Irish Times writers review Santana in Marley Park, Michael O'Rourke in Farmleigh House and the Schubert Ensemble in Castletown House
Santana Marley Park, Dublin
1992 Carlos Santana was washed-up and irrelevant. Grunge had seized the rock universe by the gullet. Wasted anti-heroes were the toast of the music press. Swaggering, hedonistic and resolutely life-affirming, Santana's labyrinthine latino harmonies stood starkly at odds with the prevailing atmosphere of grim authenticity.
A decade on, the grizzled Mexican can afford a rueful smile. His last album, Supernatural, shifted six million copies and bagged a slew of Grammies. Cutting-edge musicians lined up to cameo on its forthcoming sequel, Shaman. The sleazy rhythms he pioneered through the 1970s have acquired an excruciating hipness.
On stage, Santana proved a mesmerising performer, adroitly mingling delirious melodies, booming fretwork and svelte Cuban flourishes. Flanked by a vast retinue of players, the grizzled virtuoso delivered a rambunctious set, drawing heavily on Supernatural's string of hits and beguiling snippets from his imminent new record.
Ragamuffin opener Day of Celebration married lascivious trumpets and sensuous brass squalls. A tremulous Love of My Life saw Santana segue between looping powerchords and delicate acoustic shuffles.
Dipping into a back-catalogue which predates Woodstock, Santana dusted down a taut, edgy Apache and a skyscraping Get It In Your Soul. Bassist Benny Rietfeld proved a flawless foil, grounding Santana's incendiary plucking in a fuzzy blanket of harmonies.
It is debatable whether Santana's cartoon latino will remain relevant for long. Fickle fans may very well abandon him as swiftly as they rallied to his flag. For now, however, this gregarious oldtimer basks in near unanimous adulation. Ed Power
Míceal O'Rourke (piano)
Farmleigh House
Un piccolo divertimento Hob XVII:6Haydn
Rondo in D, K485Mozart
Fantasie in D minor, K397Mozart
Gaspard de la nuitRavel
Three Piano Pieces, D946Schubert
Romeo and Juliet (excs)Prokofiev
Music in Great Irish Houses Festival, with IIB Bank as its core sponsor, opened in the magnificent ballroom of Farmleigh House on Saturday night. Míceal O'Rourke's programme of piano music was one of those which at first sight seemed unremarkable in design, but which in practice was nicely balanced for quality, character and style.
All the composers were either from the classical period or had strong classical inclinations. Instead of playing safe with well-known sonatas by Mozart, Haydn and Schubert, O'Rourke presented some comparative rarities by these composers - pieces which have an exploratory, improvisatory aspect, or which are unusual in form.
Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit was the only work on the programme where one missed a strong meeting between the styles of performance and of composition.
The main reasons had nothing to do with technique, despite the notorious physical challenges of Gaspard. What was missing were the contrasts of character which, especially in the outer movements, can make this music such a vivid experience.
The other 20th-century works on the programme, three excerpts from Prokofiev's arrangements of his ballet Romeo and Juliet, were far more rewarding.
Míceal O'Rourke's playing of Haydn's Un piccolo divertimento HobXVII:6 (sometimes called "Sonata in A") epitomised that balance. Written in 1793, this is one of those works which impeccably treads the boundary between impulsive invention and tight control of form.
The playing handled these contradictory aspects neatly. Clear delineation of phrasing and harmonic motion tied everything together. And, against that stable background, Haydn's frequent flights of fancy popped out like wriggles of delight.
The Music in Great Irish Houses Festival continues daily up to next Saturday. For further details, phone: (01) 278 2506, or look up www.musicirishhouses Martin Adams
Schubert Ensemble
Castletown House
Piano Quartet (2000)Judith Weir
Piano Quartet No 3 in C minorBrahms
Piano Quartet in E flatSchumann
Five members of the Schubert Ensemble have an international name as champions of new music and educational outreach, and as explorers of the repertoire for strings and piano. Those qualities were very much in evidence on Saturday night at Castletown House, when four of them (the missing member was the double bass player) presented three piano quartets as part of the Music in Great Irish Houses Festival.
The performers' introductions to the two works in the first half were informal and informative. From their comments and from their playing, one could understand why Judith Weir's music is appreciated by players. Her Piano Quartet (2000), one of several pieces this group has commissioned from her, shows a strong awareness of sonority and of idiomatic writing for each instrument. The style is conservative in the best sense: it is rooted in proven practice; but it is also individual.
Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor Op. 60 is one of the works which sets the standard for this combination of instruments. The Schubert Ensemble's accomplished playing emphasised its long-line, lyrical aspects. Yet the performance did not make the impact one would expect from such mastery.
Whatever the reason, there was no such limitation in Schumann's Piano Quartet. The performance had the clarity and balance of texture, and the firmness of shaping, needed to capture this music's mercurial temperament.
In a work packed with technical and interpretative challenges, playing of such unbuttoned flair and wide expressive scope set a standard which is not often surpassed.
The Music in Great Irish Houses Festival continues daily until next Saturday. For further details, phone: (01) 2782506 or look up www.musicirishhouses.com Martin Adams
