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. 

Brecon Beacons at Union Quay: East Cork Early Music Festival 2012

Brecon  Ensemble with director Rachel Podger at Curtis Auditorium Cork photo John Finn

Zesty triple violin Vivaldi from @rachelpodger & Brecon Ensemble to finish concert of ECEM Fest. @citcsm eastcorkearlymusic.ie
— Cathy Desmond (@fidleir) October 4, 2012

Following fast on the heels of the IBO's  tour of the Bach Goldberg Variations, an opportunity to hear another top notch Baroque ensemble presented itself  at the East Cork Early Music Festival   . The   Brecon Ensemble's concert at the Curtis Auditorium, Cork topped the bill on Thursday night with their acclaimed  director, Rachel Podger.

I was just in time to catch the second half,  featuring a Bach harpsichord concerto and an energetic Vivaldi  concerto featuring very fine spirited ensemble playing from three violin soli and the famous Air in G to round it off.   A single viola , a  cello (spikeless) and violone  completed this baroque ensemble.

There was healthy house for a midweek evening and the many aficionados included members from both the RTE Academica and Van Brugh Quartets. The audience lingered in the foyer to discuss the finer points of th evening. I missed the Bach concerti but  the superlatives were flying around the foyer cognoscenti.  (You can get a flavour in the video below.)

   

Rachel Podger  John Finn Photograpy

Lunchtime Baroque Violin Recital at UCC

The Aula Max in  UCC with its vaulted timbered ceiling and latticed  lining of  bookshelves seemed altogether a  more suitable venue for a  Baroque programme and it was good to see the venue  full to near capacity  for a daytime solo violin  recital by Rachel Podger. In the absence of  printed  programme notes, she introduced the pieces herself in lovely clearly enunciated tones which I always feel has more impact and helps to establish the friendly rapport between  the performer and audience. Smiling broadly, she  projected a very sunny disposition.

Aula Max at UCC

 She  began with a Telemann Fantasia  and concluded with the Bach Partita in D minor , with a piece by Biber  as a filling She made a case for violinists to perform the final ciacconna as part of the complete partita rather than  as a stand alone piece.  While the playing was very elegant and precise, the lightness of touch in the dance movements particularly the giga, gave me the more pleasure Even in  her highly skillfull hands all those 4 string crossings might sound ok on richer register of cello but  seem to  go on for much longer than the 13 min duration and sound too much like a  very long study for my taste.   Overall  my impression was that Podger's style seemed a little more genteel than Huggett's more rumbustious delivery.

Modern day vs period instruments is a hot debating point in music forums.  While the period instruments sound more mellow, would enjoy these performers just as much on modern day instruments? I believe I would. East Cork Early Music Festival is celebrating 10 years of bringing  luminary performers in this field to Cork county. I commend them on this achievement and look forward to future performances.



   Venue Notes The Curtis Auditorium while very comfortable and acousticaly sound,  is not an intimate auditorium and with the house lights remaining up throughout the evening, the attention to period detail in instrumentation was not echoed in the lighting . It would aid concentration to have house lights dimmed and warmer more mellow lighting on stage.

Final bows  photo John Finn

Link to BBC3 Early Music Show / featuring the Brecon Ensemble