Reviews

Reviewed today are Angela McCluskey at Crawdaddy, Dublin, The Plough and the Stars at Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin, The Trio Turner at Town Hall, Bangor and David Lee, Peter Barley (organ) Trinity College Chapel, Dublin

Angela McCluskey

Crawdaddy, Dublin

Hibiscus-bejewelled bird's nest hair; attired in a Doris Day housecoat (albeit on a day Doris is on speed), and with a bevvy of songs under her oxter that would stop a clock, Angela McCluskey doesn't exactly play by the rules.

Her Dublin debut is a sparkling snapshot in time: McCluskey is a musician who seems to care not a whit about such PR niceties as coy surprise at the rampant success of her solo debut, The Things We Do.

Support slots with everyone from REM to The Finn Brothers haven't exactly polished off the rough edges either - mercifully, as it turns out, because this has to be one of the most original talents to hit the bright lights in some time.

Choosing Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat as her opener is inspired: McCluskey's cavernous, raucous vocals are the perfect antidote to the preciousness that's assumed whenever material from Manhattan's best known Zen Buddhist is covered.

After that, with the blood warmed up to simmering temperatures, she lets rip on a delightfully ragged collection of her own songs, releasing each one like an errant child she hoped would never return to the clan once she'd abandoned it on the high street.

She's been called eccentric, but in essence what she has is a gloriously free-falling personality that refuses to be fettered. Her voice is her trademark, and while it claims some kinship to Marianne Faithful's throaty, emphysemic vocals, McCluskey's singing is all her own - full of unapologetically naïve conviction and nonchalant ease.

Wrong Side whistles past the ears, heads straight to that elusive place where few songs lodge, and stays there long into the night. It's Been Done starts out with orchestral pin-prick precision, her voice transformed into a baby doll chimera that lolls casually against the backdrop of her four-piece band.

Love Is Stronger Than Death, Know It All and Sleep On It weave deliciously contradictory threads of McCluskey's personality into her multi-coloured coat.

A divinely refreshing infusion from a Scotswoman who's unlikely to go softly into any good night, any time, anywhere.

- Siobhán Long

The Plough and the Stars

Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin

East Wall PEG's production of Seán O'Casey's classic of the Dublin slums during the 1916 uprising is community theatre at its best.

What it lacks in professional polish, it makes up for in authenticity, injecting credibility into the characters and a sense of realism into their oppressed lives. And, most extraordinarily, it does so without sacrificing the glorious eloquence of the author's language and manages to achieve a level of communication with the audience that owes nothing to more elaborate theatre.

The quality of the acting in the lead roles takes most of the credit for this. From the moment that Frank Laycock's Fluther speaks his opening lines, we know that he is real, an O'Casey creation brought to life.

Soon he is joined by Margaret Croke's feisty Mrs Gogan, Aisling Moir's belligerent Bessie Burgess, Colm Meehan's clued-in Uncle Peter and, in the always difficult role of Nora Clitheroe, a convincing Lorraine Smyth. These performances would grace any stage.

The many smaller roles are played with a conviction that establishes them firmly as reliable supports. The Young Covey's verbal warfare with Uncle Peter is a comic success, Rosie Redmond plays out her pathetic siren in the bar scene, Jack Clitheroe is a good foil to Nora, soldiers come and go.

The ending, with Bessie dead on the floor, is a little downbeat, but by then the play, and its players, have sealed their credentials.

This production also retains the anti-war dimension of the play to good effect. When Nora Clitheroe strives to rescue her husband from the fighting, she has cutting things to say about the hollowness at the heart of male courage.

Again, in this context, the Covey's socialist strictures on wars of nationalism and patriotism touch nerves.

There is a lot more here than a tract of its time and place. Dara Carolan's direction is clearly a major factor in the totality of this significant accomplishment.

- Gerry Colgan

The Trio Turner

Town Hall, Bangor

Ravel - Sonatine Natra - Commentaires sentimentaux Jolivet - Pastorales de Noël Ibert - Two Interludes from Le Burlador Saint-Saëns - Fantasy for flute and harp Debussy - Sonata for flute, harp and viola

It was Debussy who discovered the magic combination of flute, harp and viola - the grainy-toned viola adding body to the too easily mellifluous pairing of flute and harp - and his late Sonata from 1915 made a natural end to this concert by a French trio named after the painter who Debussy cited as the first and greatest impressionist.

Inevitably, the Debussy made the strongest showing, although the adaptation of the 1903 Ravel Sonatine for piano worked a treat; the opening, with its theme in octaves and tremolando accompaniment, does seem to invite arrangement.

It was striking how the impressionist idiom continues to haunt Natra's Commentaires, written specially for The Trio Turner, and Jolivet's rather bland Pastorales from 1943.

While there were some interesting harmonies for the harp in the former work, there was more character in the Ibert Interludes, composed a few years later for flute, violin and harpsichord or harp and intended for a play with a Don Juan-like theme, and in the Saint-Saëns Fantasy originally written for violin and harp in 1907.

But it all sounded suitably seductive, the wood panelling and stained glass of the council chamber in the Town Hall in Bangor, Co Down, making a friendly acoustic.

One would have liked more warmth of tone in the viola playing at times, especially in the Ravel and Natra, but the gruffness of Debussy's viola writing, with its occasional icy shivers of sul ponticello, was conveyed graphically. Isabelle Perrin's harp playing stood out for sensitivity and virtuosity.

The Trio Turner's tour continues in Downpatrick (today); Portstewart (tomorrow); Clifden, Co Galway (Monday, November 22nd); Navan (Tuesday 23rd); Monaghan (Wednesday 24th); Waterford (Thursday 25th); Limerick (Friday 26th); Dublin (Saturday 27th) and Tinahely, Co Wickow (Sunday 28th)

- Dermot Gault

David Lee, Peter Barley (organ)

Trinity College Chapel, Dublin

David Lee is the senior member of the group of eight organists taking part in the current complete Bach series. He was one of the three participants in the series presented in 1972 (also in TCD), and in Tuesday's recital his playing testified of deep understanding.

The weightiness of his two groups of chorale preludes, and the placing of the large partita O Gott, du frommer Gott BWV767 in the centre of the programme made this a recital in which chorale-based music was dominant.

That music spoke for itself. There was always a forward-driving energy, but it came from inside the work rather than from a performer's imposition.

Far more important than the occasional smudge of technique was the defined character of each prelude and of each movement in the partita. Those qualities, plus some imaginatively-coloured registration, made this a recital of abiding yet quiet authority.

Bach wrote more settings of the melody Allein Gott than of any other chorale, and Peter Barley's recital on Thursday included all of them except the three from Clavierübung III.

This was a gem of a programme, one that would test the musical and technical mettle of any organist. It was a joy to listen to.

From the musical and stylistic challenges of the Concerto in D minor BWV596, (Bach's arrangement of Vivaldi's Op 3 No 11) and the trio setting of Allein Gott BWV664, to the intellectual rigour of the fugal setting BWV716, this was the work of a player who understands what makes this music tick.

Peter Barley ended with a scintillating account of the demanding Prelude and Fugue in G BWV550.

As the fugue romped along, revelling in counterpoint of astonishing complexity, the quiet smiles on the faces of his audience said it all.

Series continues at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 23rd and Thursday, November 25th with Mark Duley and David Lee

- Martin Adams