Reviews

Reviews of Hans Houtman in Dún Laoghaire and A Melody in Waltztime at the National Concert Hall.

Hans Houtman

St Michael's, Dún Laoghaire

By Michael Dervan

Passacaglia And Fugue In C Minor - Bach. Prelude Op 65; Seelenbräutigam; Jesus, Meine Zuversicht. Sonata In G, BWV530, Dies Sind Die Heiligen Zehn Gebot, BWV678 - Bach. Fantasia And Fugue In D Minor Op 135b - Reger

The young Dutch organist Hans Houtman devoted his Irish debut to works by Bach and Reger. Houtman, who has studied with Ben van Oosten and is organist of the Reformed Church at Gravendeel, played in a manner that was studious and clear, the clarity achieved through a combination of clean fingerwork and a good ear for colour in choices of registration.

That ear for colour worked best in faster movements. The weakest performances came in the slowest pieces by Bach, the slow movement of the Sonata in G, BWV530, and the implacable Dies Sind Die Heiligen Zehn Gebot, BWV678.

The outer movements of the sonata, however, were delightfully alive, and Houtman's grasp of Reger's shaggy-dog harmony, and his savoir-faire in reeling it out, made for gripping performances of music that is equally rooted in Bach and in the harmonic adventuring of the early 20th century.

At the end of the evening, through which sounds from Dún Laoghaire's Festival of World Cultures percolated into Bach and Reger, the audience made clear its appetite for more. But the performer, taxed by his exertions in the closing, note-rich Reger Fantasia and Fugue, declined the invitation.

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A Melody in Waltztime

NCH, Dublin

By John Allen

Franz Lehár was to the first third of the 20th century what Johann Strauss II had been to the final third of the previous one. Indeed, the Hungarian-born composer's The Merry Widow, from 1905, one of the three works represented in this concert, ushered in what is known as the silver age of Viennese operetta. The other two works featured were the frothy 1909 Count Of Luxembourg and the more bitter-sweet Land Of Smiles from 20 years later.

Presented by an enthusiastic Kevin Hough, the excerpts were stylishly performed in cabaret format by four singers. Michael Casey and David Wray, their pianists, worked tirelessly and provided solid support for the overamplified singers. But too often the accompaniment set the pace with a metronomic rigidity that was distinctly un-Viennese in its denial of rhythmic relaxation.

Anthony Norton was particularly susceptible to being bullied into sacrificing line for bounce, even in romantic numbers. Otherwise his pleasant tenor sounded well in the often very high tessitura, and he was suitably ardent in You Are My Heart's Delight.

Baritone Damian Smith offered much smoother singing. He too had to cope with some high-ranging music, a feat he carried off admirably.

Linda Kenny offered a radiant smile and a sweet soubrette soprano that amplified well. She tossed off her Merry Widow grisette song with aplomb.

Best of all was Elizabeth Woods. Hers was a distinguished performance that offered not only luscious soprano tone and gleaming high notes but also impeccable intonation and diction and, what's more, phrasing that was every bit as elegant as her presence.