Irish Timeswriters review Baltic Voices in Irelandat St Peter's Church in Drogheda and Cool Kidsat Crawdaddy in Dublin.
Baltic Voices in Ireland: Arvo Pärt
St Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda
Georgs Pelecis- Death is defeated by death. I See His Blood upon the Rose.
Deirdre McKay- Comendo spiritum meum.
Arvo Pärt- Summa. The Deer's Cry. Da Pacem Domine. Für Alina. Variationen zur Gesündung von Arinuschka. Spiegel im Spiegel. Fratres. Magnificat. Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen. Bogoróditse dyévo.
The music of Estonia's leading composer Arvo Pärt couples simplicity with rigour. He's not the first composer to have exploited the common arpeggio at its most basic. Two of the most famous examples from earlier centuries come from Bach (the opening Prelude of his Well-Tempered Clavier) and Beethoven (the first movement of the MoonlightSonata). What makes Pärt exceptional in modern times is that he's shown how to manage the same feat while appealing to the widest audience and yet neatly avoid the trap of banality.
Not all performers of his work actually help him in the avoidance of the trap. The patterns of works such as Spiegel im Spiegelfor violin and piano are so clear, the musical material so simple, that it's not always easy to reach convincingly to what lies below the surface. There's a crucial hint in the composer's statement that "it is enough when a single note is beautifully played". That hint was fully explored in the best performances of Louth Contemporary Music Society's Baltic Voices in Ireland: Arvo Pärt concert in Drogheda on Wednesday.
Pärt's specially commissioned The Deer's Cry, a setting of St Patrick's Breastplate, seems a perfect match of words and music. The reiterations of the text, the chordal patterns of the music with their mixture of strictness and unpredictability, and the freer movement of the overarching soprano line, were delivered by the Latvian State Choir, Latvija, with uncommon beauty under Fergus Sheil.
His handling of the remaining choral works by Pärt was rather chillier, even at times mechanistic, by comparison with the results he achieved in The Deer's Cry. He returned to top form for the closing Bogoróditse dyévo. The instrumental works played by Ioana Petcu-Colan (violin) and Michael McHale (piano) were offered as an uninterrupted sequence in which every phrase, every curve, every caress, every outburst, was shown as if were the most treasurable of precious stones. I have heard both of these musicians on numerous occasions, but never before have I encountered their music-making when it burned with such inspiration.
In the terrifyingly exposed challenges that Pärt provides for violinists, Petcu-Colan even managed to capture the spirit of an earlier era of virtuoso writing while remaining true to the spirit of the music. And McHale showed how to dispense completely with the associations of the piano as an essentially percussive instrument.
In the three opening works, including the new pieces by Latvian Georgs Pelecis and Irish composer Deirdre McKay, the excellent Latvian choir was conducted by one of its own conductors, Maris Sirmais. McKay's specially commissioned Comendo spiritum meumis conceived as a layered, slowly-shifting drone out of which the words coalesce and rise to intense heights.
Pelecis's I See His Blood Upon the Rose, another commission, is a slow, atmospheric piece which dwells on and hypnotically repeats the words. His earlier Death is Defeated by Death, the only work for which texts and translations were not provided, had a jolliness that might not be immediately inferred from its title. - Michael Dervan
Cool Kids
Crawdaddy, Dublin
A three-pronged attack led by the Cool Kids was kicked off in rare fashion by the Infomatics, a rap electronica outfit playing on home soil.
The bristling rapping of the two MCs, Konchus Lingo and Mr Dero, was counterpointed by grooving bass and samples and some tight, fluid drumming with more than a hint of jazz by Jorge Laguna.
After this quality offering, things got an awful lot stranger. The Carps are a two-piece from Toronto comprising Jahmal Tonge and drums and vocals and Neil White on bass on keyboards. While Tonge attempts to hold things down and let his soul vocal loose, White thrashes about the stage with a fuzzed, growling bass that does little to hide his sloppy playing over meandering songs with barely a hint of structure.
Then it's the turn of the Cool Kids to bring some quality to the proceedings. This duo is carrying on a torrid love affair with the 1980s, and this is blindingly obvious in their old-school grooves and beats. This is hip-hop that speaks more of the likes of the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash than their modern-day, bling counterparts, particularly in their own homage to the decade, 88. The crowd are even treated to a somewhat bumbling version of the theme tune from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air- who says rappers don't have a sense of humour?
Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks mix this approach with more punchy, contemporary production, making big bassy music and lyrics whipped out of the gates by a group wearing its influences like a badge of honour.
They like to remind us that they're "the new black version of the Beastie Boys", but here they are just a version. While the Beastie Boys had no problem tearing the Electric Picnic apart with their multi-instrumentalist, explosive live show, the Cool Kids are relying on their own voices, charm and a DJ for beats.
The crowd lap it up, especially Gold and a Pager, but this feels less substantial than a full-blown live show. A full band would make these beats more muscular and make these kids too cool for school. - Laurence Mackin
