There was a party atmosphere in Waterford as the Harvest Festival drew to a close. After an afternoon of picnicing in the park being entertained by the Barrack Street Band, you could feast like a Viking on the Quay or hear the Irish Baroque Orchestra in the elegant classical interior of Christchurch Cathedral . I have remarked in previous posts on the confluence of architectural elegance in this part of the South Eastern capital, with the polished architectural gems, the Theatre Royal and Bishop's Palace and Christchurch Cathedral all located in this corner. The area referred to as the Viking Triangle has been further enhanced with the addition of a wonderful new building, tucked in snugly behind the Cathedral with a visually stunning curved ediface in creamy Bath stone marking the entrance to the new Medieval Museum.
Welcomed to the podium at Christchurch Cathedral by Liam Daly, the new administrator of the Symphony Club of Waterford,
Huggett at the Helm photo B Childers
the IBO under their director,Monica Huggett brought an unusual musical offering -a twenty year old string adaptation of JS Bach's Goldberg Variations. Originally for harpsichord, the set of 30 variations on an Italianate aria was supposedly composed for a Count prone to insomnia and named for the young player in his employ. The work was popularised for 20th century audiences by Canadian pianist, Glen Gould's legendary recording of the work. For this performance, the variations were split in half with an interval between. 30 variations might seem like rather a lot for a single timbre of strings to bear for one evening but there was plenty of variety in the skillful arrangement and all the crisp and clean articulation and melodic canons were clearly heard in the accoustically friendly, intimate venue -just right for the assembly.
The ensemble were arranged in a concertino quartet, a solo player to each part with opposing violin sections in front with ripieno desk behind . The first violin and viola were adjacent to facilitate the many interweaving duet lines between the two, with continuo section of cello and harpsichord at the heart of the ensemble.
The playing was first class but what made the evening compelling was the verve and enthusiasm emanating from dynamic leader Monica Huggett. Frequently she swept her instrument in a 180 degree arc as if in a an effort to simultaneously draw her audience into the fold and at the same time galvanise her troops into action . One could sense the crackle of energy from the tip of her Baroque bow as she drew gutsy performances from her bakers dozen of players supported throughout by David Adams solid continuo lines.
But hadn't Bach written tons of ensemble music, so what I asked her was the appeal of this relatively new arrangement of a harpsichord piece for string players? From a practical standpoint, apart from the 3rd Brandenberg Concerto , there is relatively little in Bach's output it seems purely for strings and leaving aside for the moment any aesthetic consideration, the arrangement by Sitkovetsky , a conductor laureate of the Ulster Orchestra is a valuable addition to the repertoire. That, and the piece is just so exhiliarating and so much fun for string players to play, she added ' Looking at Ms Huggett leading her revved up Baroque band , I can well believe it! I could cheerfully have sat and listened to the whole work again. Bravo IBO!
Word of the day (from IBO rehearsals) =OOMPHY.As in.. "this variation should be more OOMPHY.Like, with extra oomph!" Hilarious! :)
— Irish Baroque (@IrishBaroque) September 12, 2012
Although Ireland has had its own baroque period orchestra for sometime now, I had not heard this ensemble and I was looking forward to finally hearing members of the Irish Baroque Orchestra under their artistic director and Grammy nominee MonicaHuggett. I went along to their tea-time performance at Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford. Regrettably, I shall have to wait for another occasion to hear Huggett.. (If the PR material trails a high profile performer, is it not reasonable that there is at least an announcement of a change of cast?)
There were no programme notes but items were eloquently introduced by Lisa Beznosiuk who acted as leader. The most vibrant aspect of the performance was David Adam's hapsichord painted in vivid peppermint green embellished with eyecatching geometric shapes. As for the music by French early baroque composers Couperin, Rameau and Marais, I found the selection a bit dull and the playing overall a bit clinical and lacking in bite particulary from the strings. This may of course have something to do with my lack of familiarity with the baroque instrument timbre but I can't say I was won over to early baroque instrumental music. I have on rare opportunities enjoyed the different sound palette that period instruments have added to baroque opera performances but while the playing was polished and assured, I did not feel the players engaged particularly well with each other, seeming very focused on their own individual parts.
Tea time seems like a very good time to have a short performance. There was a relatively small turnout although the idea of combining a ticket with local restaurant offer seemed like a good one. Local cognoscenti in the audience included Liam Daly, newly appointed as conductor of University of Limerick Orchestra and his wife Maureen of Barrack Street Concert Band and flautist Gerry Dower
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