Good Grief: Limerick Choral Union Easter Concert

Spirestone Mary Coll, Fiona Linnane

Che Faro  Gluck   sung by Sarah Ellen Murphy

It is ennough  Mendelssohn   Gyula Nagy

Laudate Dominum Mozart    Franzita Whelan 

Stabat Mater  Verdi             tenor Julian Hubard 

Requiem  Mozart  

Good Friday marked a milestone in an epic music  project in Limerick.   One hundred and fifty musicians and singers took to the UCH stage to perform a programme resonant with the grief laden day that was in it.  The concert by Limerick Choral Union and Orchestra marked 50 years of consistently adding to the cultural soundscape of Limerick- a remarkable achievement. I was privileged to be in the orchestra for the occasion and witnessed the final stages of the resurrection of  these sacred gems for  a full house in Limerick's largest auditorium. The evening opened with a new work by Fiona Linnane and Mary Coll prefacing  a selection of of Classical and Romantic choral pieces under conductor Malcolm Green. Mozart's Requiem is familiar to me from the movie, Amadeus and it was exciting  to finally get a chance to get inside the work as a musician.

LCU Conductor Malcolm Green in rehearsal with soprano Franzita Whelan

Over the years, LCU concerts have given Limerick audiences an opportunity to hear singers in the early stages of their professional careers alongside  more seasoned performers. On Friday we heard the much lauded soprano, Franzita Whelan with one of Limerick's own  favourite performers, Sarah Ellen Murphy. New kids on the block were two singers from the Opera Theatre Company stable.  Hungarian baritone, Gyula Nagy is one of the current crop of Young Associate Artists and English tenor, Julian Hubbard will feature in the cast of the Weills political opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany which comes to the Olympia stage in June as part of a collaboration between OTC and  Rough Magic Theatre Company.

No shelter under City of Culture Umbrellla for LCU

Given that the endeavour ticked   many cultural boxes, engaging truckloads of local performers and offering a quality programme at modest cost ,a platform for professional singers, airing of new work by a local composer etc, it was surprising that the concert was not included on the programme of the City of Culture. I have commented here before about the lack of print media attention of main stream classical events in Limerick but it seems surprising to see this well organised and hard working outfit marginalized by a local cultural initiative in a year when they might have benefited from the head wind of such  an acknowledgement. You can read a local press piece here

** Despite an busy international and national career, it was my first time to hear Franzita Whelan who is one of select group to have represented Ireland in the Cardiff singer of the World competition (2001).  She was given a most  favourable mention in a letter to the Irish Times back in 2005, which must have had the RTE musicians squirming.  I often use this in my pre-concert pep talks for my students. You can read that  letter, 'NSO and Beethoven'  below.  Judging by the audience response, it seems that the ladies and gentlemen of Limerick Choral Union and our soloists on this occasion know very well the difference between playing and performing and hopefully will continue to do so long after the dust settles on the  City of Culture hoopla.

listen to ‘Limerick Choral Union’ on Audioboo

Last minute of concert followed by sustained applause from 1min in.

    The NSO and Beethoven - Letter to the editor Irish Times 17th May 2005

Madam, - What is the matter with the National Symphony Orchestra? It takes hard work to make Beethoven's ninth symphony sound dull, but there were moments in last Friday's performance which were almost torpor inducing.

The orchestra looked bored and this attitude was more than reflected in the music. Matters were not helped by poor co-ordination and a horn section that at times struggled to hit the higher notes with any semblance of accuracy. The soloists, with the sole exception of Franzita Whelan, looked glum; Ms Whelan at least looked as if she were singing an ode to joy.

The evening was redeemed only by the magnificent singing of the choir who, apart from Ms Whelan, looked as if they were the only people on stage who were actually enjoying themselves. They deserved their standing ovation, which is more than can be said for their accompanists.

Next time the Bavarian Radio Orchestra is in town, the members of the NSO should be made to sit in the front rows in order that they can observe the difference between playing and performing. - Yours, etc.,

FRANK BANNISTER,
Morehampton Terrace,
Dublin 4

Related Posts

http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2011/12/limericks-handel-for-president.html

http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2010/12/limerick-chorale-union-christmas.html

http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2012/04/letter-to-editor-irish-times.html

http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2012/04/german-requiem-in-castletroy-auf.html

http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2010/04/music-of-grief-stabat-mater.html

Summer Music Galway in Ennis

Beethoven Violin Concerto

The staff and senior students of Summer Music in Galway, the  long established summer music school gave a terrific concert at Danlann, Ennis Co Clare on Monday night.  The main work offered was Beethoven's Violin Concerto with David Stewart as soloist. The concert master of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra appeared to really relish the performance and was well served by the orchestra under Paul Ezergalis.  I was struck by the prominent role of principal bassoon and Michael Dooley did justice to the numerous duet moments in the work. Michael was also credited with a chaming arrangement of an Irving Berlin medley.  The strings were a liitle over emphatic  for my taste and might have aimed for a more relaxed feel for this 1930's popular repertoire. There was a selection of operatic arias by Mozart and Rossini  from a quartet of singers,  including Sarah Ellen Murphy and  Helen Houlihan, the context set  in amusing introductions by  soprano, Edel O'Brien.  There was rare treat in an arrangement of a piece called Cousins featuring a rich and warm duet combination of cornet and trombone.

Regrettably for such a high calibre of musical treats,  the audience number was roughly the same as the number in the orchestra. I think it is very difficult to gather an audience for a one off event unless it is hooked to another group or is publicised as part of an overall festival or sequence of events. I think there is some scope for a number of groups to pool their advertising resources and market Ennis as a multi faceted music hub and promote  their events in a combined effort . Come for Willie Clancy Week  and stay on for Summer Music.  Leaving that aside with two music schools and numerous choral groups in Ennis, it should be possible without too much advertising, to bring in larger audiences than are usual at classical events in Ennis. Musicians themselves I believe have a certain responsibility not only to perfrom but also to form an audience for fellow performers and to encourage our students in this regard. Although I still comb the local papers for news of events, I tend to look now online for information which I would not have done a year ago.   In fact, it was a text message that brought me along on this particular evening as I had missed seeing the printed advertising .

The next event in this venue will be  a  youth opera , Deep Waters  8pm Thursday 11th August .

Music of Grief Stabat Mater

On Good Friday, I took a break from the Easter duties with the hard working Ennis Cathedral Choir to join Limerick Choral Union and Orchestra as a violist for their Easter concert featuring the Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins. Conductor Malcolm Greene had assembled a range of forces to deliver a memorable performance of this very moving work. It was my first experience of playing a work by this Welsh composer.

Singer Camille Malaawy's performance of the arabic segments was spine tingling and the addition of the Ethnic wind instrument, the Mey to the soundscape and dimming of lights added enormously to the conjuring up of a differnt world. Surely only the most steely heart could fail to be moved by Sarah Ellen Murphy's Lament.

Also on the programme was a Puccini Mass featuring big sweeping operatic melodies and carried off beautifully by the young singers Peter O Donohue and David Howes who I expect we will hear a lot more of in the coming years.

All in all, it was a wonderful musical extravaganza which was very exciting to be a part of . Well done Malcolm Greene