Poetic Licence: Attacca Quartet at Christchurch

Effective  lighting  for Attacca at Christchurch 

The Attacca Quartet are on an Irish  tour at the moment and I enjoyed hearing them last night at Christchurch Cathedral Waterford on the second evening of a six date tour. You can read a report of the opening concert on the Irish Times blog here. The  playing was very fine indeed  and they were an attractive looking group on the dramatically  lit platform in  the elegant backdrop of the 18th century interior.

Christ Church Cathedral rocked tonight with a wonderful Attacca Quartet. World class young musicians who talked to their audience
— LIAM MURPHY (@liammunster) February 28, 2014

Unfortunately I got caught by the early start time and missed the opening work by Adams. I think early start times and tea time / afternoon recitals are a great idea particularly on weekends but they do need to be flagged more actively  particularly when all other times in the tour are at the more conventional 8pm.

I loved the addition of a spoken element to the proceedings and it was refreshing to hear sound of well modulated accents from the other side of the Atlantic. There were subsantial  programme notes from Liam Cagney. Here is what he has to say about the 4th movement  of 'Intimate Letters'. Janacek's passionate paean to a beloved younger woman.
'The final movement, gliding on erotic impulse, expresses the composer's fear that he might 'bind your feet like a pretty little lamb' ;though the finale eventually ends triumphantly'  Judge for youself.  Here is a clip of the Attacca Quartet playing the finale of their 'Poetic Licence' programme

The Attacca Quartet are at the Triskel  Arts Centre in Cork tonight  (Note at 8pm) and Wexford tomorrow afternoon.  Tour locations and dates here 



Venue Notes : I loved the subdued lighting in the body of the church. It added much to the experience. The accoustic of the 18th century stone building suited the dimensions of an unamplified chamber ensemble and the string sonority was rich and warm. The setting of the vocal microphone sounded off. The vocal clarity was not as sharp as it might  be. I was conscious of this also at a recent talk here.

Barbershop Bootcamp at Harmony Row

4 was a magic number in a week in which have  I heard some remarkable musical quartets. The Vogler Quartet amazed me  in Cork  with their perfect string blend. In Ennis it was harmonies of the vocal acapella variety that beguiled me for a while when I dropped in to the annual boot camp of the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers held at Colaiste Muire on the aptly named, Harmony Row. We heard a selection of quartets and choruses from around the country at a Saturday night concert.  Our favourites were British Barbershop Champions, IQ.  A lovely blend of close harmonies delivered with humour and panache. Have a listen to them in the video below. Youngsters , Twelve Plus One, (or  12+1) were warmly received. by their more senior colleagues for their chilling rendition of The Sound of Silence. 

 A rough headcount of participants indicated that the female of the species, Warbler Acapella, predominated at the event.  Perhaps the gentlemen are saving themselves for the  IABS annual convention in Waterford from 4-6 October. You can read my report of  The 2010 convention here  Expect to spot warblers of indigenous and non native variety with group titles  showing a strong penchant for musicals  puns. Should be fun!

Vogler Quartet with Blumina in Cork

German Boy Band: The Vogler Quartet

   Dvorak : Piano Quintet in A Major Op.81 

I was just in time to catch the last item of the Vogler Quartet's concert at the Curtis Auditorium in Cork on Thursday,  a Dvorak piano quintet  with pianist Elisaveta Blumina. 
But this  work made for one of those memorable evenings that made you feel glad to be there to hear it. and believe   for these moments at least, that  the very best thing in the musical world is a string quartet. Better still, one augmented by a piano. 
So what was the wow factor in this performance  for it most certainly was a wow?  That these fellas can play is a given at this level. Rather it was the blend of sound that seemed as near perfect as I have heard and  the youthful enthusiasm  and apparent delight  they took in their task as they exchanged smiles at sunny moments in the work, The German ensemble have a slightly tousled boyish air about them and hard to believe that they are playing together for nearly three decades.  The group anchor an annual music festival in Sligo on May Bank Holiday and have had some interesting collaborations and I include a video on one below.
The hall was packed to near capacity with a pleasant mix of age groups. There were many musicians in the audience with  members of the teaching staff and their students well represented  at the evening hosted by the Cork Orchestral Society.  

In one of those strange coincidences, the name Vogler cropped in conversation later in the Hi B Bar where Francis from Munich was tickling the ivories, Vogler's Jazz Club being a great jazz spot in Bavarian capital. He  plays from Wednesday to Saturday evenings in the Hi B but more on Francis in a  future post. 

Graffiti Classics in -Ennis

Virtouso string playing & polished vocals, madcap humour an entertaining mix @graffiticlassicinEnnis Tourdates here graffiticlassics.com/tour-dates.php
— Cathy Desmond (@fidleir) October 17, 2012

Some years ago , while on holidays, my family found ourselves at a festival performance by a comedy string quartet by Le Quatuor, a well established French comedy string quartet .  Our expectations were fairly low but the mix of highly skilled string playing combined with well honed comedy routines kept teenagers and adults enthralled for two hours, somewhat to our surprise.  I suspect that Graffiti Classics owe some debt to this group for paving the way for this strange hybrid  mix of high and lowbrow entertainment forms.



 Graffiti Classics are a comedy string quartet with the usual cello replaced a double bass with infinitely more inherent comedic potential which front man Cathal O Duill makes a good job of exploiting The humour doesn't overshadow that they are individually extremely accomplished musicians. The violinists particularly displayed some dazzling pyrotechnics in a Romanian 'Birdie Dance' . Violist , Stephen Kennedy's treacly  baritone voice  added a richness to the mix and the O Sole Mio/ Presley sing off with Kennedy and a O'Duill was hilarious.  They opened their set with a hoe down version of Thus Spake Zarasthustra.  It is no small feat that they perform their set from memory with not a music stand in sight .

It could not go unnoticed that the audience was  to say the least - 'sparce'   and the comedy potential of this was  naturally exploited as it could not possibly be ignored. Performers among the audience appreciated the added energy needed from the stage to make up the  energy defecit from a small house.
Afficionados in the audience included Paul Quinn of  The Speks and Marie Pyne, director  of the Forever Young Choir. Have a look at the video below for a flavour . They are performing around the country this week.  More details in this article from Journal of Music 




 Graffiti Classics

Related posts  Sid Bowfin at Sproai http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2011/07/fun-at-spraoi-street-festival-waterford.html