Martin Adams heard Aisling Casey (oboe) and the RTÉCO/David Brophy at the NCH, Dublin, while Jane Coyle reviews Carousel at theGrand Opera House, Belfast.
Aisling Casey (oboe), RTÉCO/David Brophy
NCH, Dublin
By Martin Adams
Gazza ladra Overture - Rossini, L'Horloge de flore - Françaix, Orfeo ed Euridice Suite - Gluck, Niko-Polka - John Strauss.
This was the final concert in this year's lunchtime orchestral series. Rossini's Gazza ladra Overture was the opening work, and there, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and conductor David Brophy attained strengths which were missed in some of the later items.
From a swaggering, martial energy in the first section, and throughout the famous Rossini crescendos, it was a reliable and enjoyable performance, emphatic and laden with the gestural precision one associates with early-music groups.
Therefore, it was puzzling that Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice Suite, written 50 years earlier, proved so unconvincing. This collection of vivid, impeccable dances was flat and characterless - qualities one does not associate with this conductor.
Music which Berlioz and others have regarded as a paragon of dramatic subtlety and power was marooned somewhere between the line-driven style of romanticised practice and the textural clarity of period-
instrument playing, and without the strengths of either.
John Strauss's Nice-Polka was the final work on the programme and was more convincing. However, the concert's star turn came in L'Horloge de flore by the French composer Jean Françaix. Scored for solo oboe and small orchestra, and completed in 1959, this well-crafted seven-movement work shows the romantic side of French neo-classicism, and is firmly in that nation's tradition of creating colourful character pieces.
Such decorative music needs to be played well; and the oboe soloist, Cork-born Aisling Casey, did not disappoint. From long-line cantabile to chirping, angular dexterity, she made tricky music sound effortless; and her responsive contribution to the intimate discourse between orchestra and oboe was impeccable.
With all those strengths, and with some sound accompaniment by conductor and orchestra, it was a persuasive performance.
Carousel
Grand Opera House, Belfast
By Jane Coyle
Composer Richard Rodgers reckoned that he never wrote a more satisfying score, nor his partner Oscar Hammerstein more meaningful and moving lyrics than in Carousel, their personal favourite of all their legendary musicals. In this big, stylish new production, one would be inclined to agree. What gives Carousel the edge over the rest is its irresistible combination of a gritty storyline, a dark heart, some winning comic characters and a collection of sublime songs.
In Sam Kane and Jane Mark as, respectively, the fairground barker Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan, the sweet girl who catches his roving eye, the production has a powerful and completely convincing central pairing.
By the time they have hesitatingly vowed never to love each other in the beautifully sung If I Loved You, the audience is ensnared and remains in the palm of their collective hand throughout a three-hour performance that simply flies by.
Director Julian Woolford and choreographer Wayne Sleep head a creative team for whom, clearly, only the best will do. Add pin-sharp orchestration under musical director Gareth Williams, atmospheric set design and sparky performances from the large company and there is little more to wish for in a production that lifts an already great musical close to the realms of folk opera.
Runs until September 6th
