REVIEWS

Rock, operetta and classical in today's reviews.

Concerto for Constantine

Whelan's, Dublin

There's a lot to be said for hype. Unsigned, and without an album even recorded, it was some feat for a new band that this show was packed full of enthusiasts waiting to hear what all the fuss was about. It helps that Concerto for Constantine is comprised of three Irish musicians who have flirted with, and occasionally courted, success at various junctures over the past decade.

Singer and guitarist Mark Greaney, as one third of JJ72, saw that band's debut album spawn several hit singles before label wrangling led to its eventual demise in 2006. Bassist Gavin Fox left Co Meath's nearly men, Turn, to join perennial Scottish under-achievers, Idlewild, while Paul "Binzer" Brennan was the sticksman for The Frames and Bell X1 during times when both were still eating scraps from the Irish rock-scene table.

Having formed their new band last summer, these three have spent most of the past nine months writing, but with several high-profile gigs under their collective belts, they are already an imposing live force. If the trio's name suggests prog-infused fanfares, the reality, thankfully, is a lot rawer. Strolling on to the stage amid flashing strobe lights and dressed in black, the band played old-school rock, without any bells or whistles and with the amps most definitely turned up to 11.

Declining to introduce the songs by their titles, the accomplished musicians whipped through almost a dozen numbers that boded well for their debut album, with the influence of early Manic Street Preachers and Smashing Pumpkins clear in the songwriting.

Waspswas loud enough to drown out Greaney's dubious lyrics, but the singer's falsetto, which has as many detractors as admirers, was able to match the competing music for the most part. Silverand Killing Fields, softened with a commercial sheen, are worthy contenders for any future release.

The one-hour set started and finished with the new single, Minsk, although Greaney's screams and the catchy riff were far more ferocious on second hearing. With ringing ears and the closing chords still lingering in the air, even the cynics in the audience seemed impressed with this taster of things to come.

BRIAN KEANE

The Merry Widow

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin

Franz Lehar's waltz-laden operetta has been charming audiences for more than 100 years, and the only question that needs to be asked of any new production is simply whether it is a good one. The answer, in the case of the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society's current outing, is yes, very good.

The plot follows the efforts of the Pontevedrian embassy in Paris, headed by Baron Zeta, to save its tiny country from bankruptcy by persuading the rich widow, Anna, to marry one of its citizens. His rakish attaché, Count Danilo, is given the task of wooing her, which has its complications. How all this works out, happily of course, takes many comic twists and turns, studded with delightful waltz numbers.

After a lively ensemble opening, Sarah Guilmartin as Zeta's wife, Valencienne, and Paul Kelly as her would-be lover, Camille, open their singing account with A Highly Respectable Wife, followed later by Flow'rs are Awakened in Maytime, their melodious voices seducing the ear.

Next to shine is Sandra Kelly as Anna, the charming widow, with So Many Men Admire Me, manifesting a presence and voice that grow to captivate the audience in the lovely Vilia, backed by the harmonious ensemble.

The ever-reliable Gary Mountaine leads as Zeta in a typically clever performance, combining subtle acting and vocal abilities. Veteran Philip Byrne's Danilo is not quite the right visual fit for the dashing count, but his robust baritone and experienced stage presence shape and control the character. John Furlong's Njegus is a hilarious factotum, the chorus sings with impressive precision, and the full ensemble fills the stage with colour and choreographed movement.

The work of director Noel McDonough and conductor Gearóid Grant adds real flourish to the visual and aural punch of a delightful production.

Runs to Apr 26

GERRY COLGAN

Cashell, RTÉCO/Brophy

RDS, Dublin

Glinka -Russlan and Ludmilla Overture. Richard Strauss -Metamorphosen.

Shostakovich -Piano Concerto No 2. Mendelssohn -Symphony No 4 (Italian).

The first of two RDS concerts by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra had a programme of the kind that leaps about the place, with the heavy-duty material coming not in the second half but just before the interval, when the orchestra made a rare venture into the world of late Richard Strauss.

The RDS concert hall is a generally inhospitable venue for orchestral music, and its dry acoustic posed exceptional challenges for Strauss's Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings, a work which lives enough in the realm of chamber music to make exceptional demands on players.

The RTÉCO's playing under David Brophy flowed easily but with too little sense of expressive traction and too many areas of insufficiently detailed plateau to show the full glory of Strauss's memorial to a culture that was being undermined by the ravages of war.

The outer works were driven with impressive energy, with both Glinka and Mendelssohn sounding at their best when Brophy reined in the volume and saved the music from the electronic limiter-like effect of the acoustic.

The evening's soloist was Sophie Cashell, winner of last year's BBC Classical Star competition, playing Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto, a work written for the composer's teenage son in 1957.

Cashell's performance of a piece which combines prattle, thunder and schmaltz was full of youthful brio. And the enthusiasm of her playing was reflected in the response of the audience, which seemed to be packed with ranks of vociferous fans.

MICHAEL DERVAN