MUSIC Network's April tour began in Dublin Castle last Sunday week and will end in Drogheda on April 21st. Lynda Lee (soprano) sings 11 songs by Schubert, interspersed with pieces for clarinet played by Michael Seaver.
The accompanist in both cases is Patrick Zuk and all three performers joined in the final item, Schubert's The Shepherd on the Rock.
This mini cantata showed the three at their best the rich warm soprano voice, the fluid clarinet playing and the sympathetic and unassertive piano. Schubert's fondness for repetition was made more than acceptable. Nevertheless, the greater the song, the greater the performance. The flag waving devotion of Dem Unendlichen - (a hymn by Klopstock) was delivered with operatic unction, quite unsuitable for a Lieder (Recitat, but Ganymed (Goethe's extraordinary restatement of myth as orgasm) was all the more effective for being understated, and Gretchen at the Spinning wheel combined passion with intimacy in the way this song needs.
Michael Seaver's principal offering was Brahms's first Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, and this substantial work was played with appropriate gravitas but rather too carefully, dulling the lyric impulse.
Partita (Monologues and Interludes) for clarinet solo by Martin O'Leary was introduced by the composer, who hinted at the thoughts behind the music without giving much away. The five, short movements were musings in melancholy style, even the more virtuosic Interludes succumbing to the plaintive atmosphere.
More immediately appealing was a thoroughly virtuosic showpiece by Paul Jeanjean, Variations on the Carnival of Venice, This was music as pure fun, entertaining and amusing and both clarinetist and pianist enjoyed it as much as the highly appreciative audience.