Irish Chamber Orchestra at the Mansion House

When I look back on my career one of the great joys will have been this chance to work with Gábor Takács-Nagy. He's a consummate musician!

— Ailish Tynan (@AilishTynanEire) February 11, 2016

Pergolesi Salve Regina in C minor
Haydn from The Seven Last Words of Christ Introduzione: Maestoso ed Adagio Mozart Kommet her ihr frechen Suender KV 146
Haydn from The Seven Last Words of Christ Il Terremoto (The Earthquake)
Schubert Salve Regina D676
Schubert String Quartet in D minor D810 Death and the Maiden

The Irish Chamber Orchestra tried out a new  venue for their Dublin concert this week. moving into town from their more usual base at the RDS and bypassing the salubrious portals of the  NCH where I heard them last. There was a near capacity crowd and a lively buzz at The Round Room at the Mansion House. I almost got caught with the 7.30pm  start time and soprano Ailish Tynan was just finishing her introduction as I took my seat.

The room is a very large circular, domed space  and  the orchestra were placed at floor level at one end. While the acoustic is not as good as other venues I have heard them play in, it was in many respects, a more satisfying  evening. As soon as I could, I moved to an empty seat in the front row. Not only did this dramatically improve the sound effect but it was  a joy to watch conductor Gabor Takács Nagy direct his forces and observe the  rapport between him and the excellent soloist. Ailish Tynan's performance had a chamber music  sensibility,  her glorious  voice blending  like another instrument with the strings rather than soaring above them.  Mahler's arrangement of Schubert's string quartet, Death and the Maiden was vivid and exciting.

Audience and performers mingled during the interval. We met our soloist, Ms Tynan, in an aisle cooing over a very well behaved guide dog.  Des Keogh was  there to support his daughter, Oonagh. The German ambassador was in the house and  the Lady Mayoress attended wearing  her chain of office.

As always from the ICO there was superb musicianship and clearly great empathy between conductor and ensemble and it was pleasant to be in the city centre.  I would like to see the ICO experiment with the room, perhaps placing the ensemble in the centre with the audience placed around them. I would suggest making a bee line for the seats nearest the musicians for best  acoustic experience.





 

Festive Music: ICO Joyeux Noel

 

Irish Chamber Orchestra

Katherine Hunka Director

Ailish Tynan Soprano

Rudi de Groote Cello

Cliona Doris Harp 

• Saint-Saëns          Le deluge Op. 45, Prélude
• Vivaldi                  Paris Concerto No. 2 in E minor, RV 133
• 
  
• Mahler                  Adagietto (from Symphony No. 5)
• Britten                  Les Illuminations
• Debussy               Sacred & Profane Dances for Harp and Strings
• Francaix               From Quinze Portraits D’Enfants
•                             In the Luxembourg garden
•                             Madame Charpentier’s Children
•                             At the Piano
•                            The Baby with a Spoon
•                            The Schoolboy
• Martinet             Le Petit Papa Noel
• Wade                  Adeste Fidelis   
• Saint-Saëns       The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals)
• Gruber/Mohr     Silent Night

I enjoyed the Irish Chamber Orchestra's festive French themed programme in the magnificent Gothic stone St Fin Barre's Cathedral .  You can read my review which appeared in Saturday's Irish Examiner here  It was a great pleasure  to hear soprano Ailish Tynan. I last heard her when she was  a guest soloist in Chansons d'Auvergne for a concert with Maynooth University Orchestra of which I was a member around 2001 or so. She was just setting off to begin her studies in London. where she now lives and enjoys a very successful career. The Francaix pieces escaped mention. They wee described by Liz Nolan in her comprehensive programme notes as 'bright, bumptious and gleeful'. Just right. 

Jorg Widmann

It isn't that long since I heard the ICO at their home base at UCH  . I had imagined that the Wunderkind of the programme title applied to the conductor  Jorg Widmann who was all over the programme as conductor , chamber music musician and composer in an impressive display of mulit tasking
. In fact the title applied to the Mendelssohn whose teenage works formed the mainstay of the programme.  You can read that review here