Period-performance concerns, from orchestral layout to lightness of vibrato and transparency of textures, are ones that Kenneth Montgomery also brings to his concerts with the orchestra. Last Friday he conjured up otherworldly magic and mystery in Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture and buoyant energy and outdoor freshness in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. It would be hard to imagine a greater orchestral Operation Transformation than the one Montgomery effected in these two works. More, please.
In between, the orchestra’s principal cellist, Martin Johnson, gave the first performance of Frank Corcoran’s Cello Concerto. Corcoran long ago established a reputation as being something of a wild man, musically speaking, among Irish composers. Rawness and roughness are his stock in trade. He prefers the jagged, the shrill, the disruptive to the smooth, the sweet or the calming.
His note about the new concerto refers to the idea of the solo instrument singing in all registers. On a first hearing it sounds as if his concern to allow the cello breathing space has created something of a Jekyll and Hyde effect, with the orchestral ranting standing distinctly apart from the cello’s often more plaintive cries.
mdervan@irishtimes.com