There were two new works at the opening concert of the National Chamber Choir's summer series - Eros and Thanatos - at the National Gallery on Thursday.
Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, NCC/Antunes National Gallery, Dublin
Stefan Thomas - Zeit(t)räume
Bach - The Art of Fugue (exc)
Ian Wilson - Little Red Fish
Bach - Jesu meine Freude
Both were scored for the unusual combination of choir and saxophone quartet. Belfast-born Ian Wilson's 13-minute Little Red Fish - a setting of a superficially childish but in fact rather macabre little poem by the Expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka - is thoroughly engaging in its dismantling of the text down to individual syllables and phonetic units, and in its ear-opening exploration of the special sonorities on offer.
Alongside everything technically interesting was the constant presence of both the text and its underlying themes of violence, death and - more obtusely - sex. Sadly, despite being specially commissioned by the NCC, Little Red Fish is unlikely to receive many performances due to its unusual scoring. This meant, however, that the performance aroused a strong sense of occasion, of being witness to something rare.
The same could not be said of Stefan Thomas's overlong and aurally congested Zeit(t)räume. There were issues of balance nearly throughout, with Thomas misjudging not only the volume but also the resonance of the saxophones, which in effect marginalised the presence of the choir.
Music by Bach filled out the rest of the programme. The Raschèr Quartet played two fugues (contrapuncti XI and IX) from The Art of Fugue, a work that has acquired a modern tradition for performance on just about any instrumental combination.
It sounded fine on four saxophones, with the Rascher's smooth and intelligent voicing always seamlessly shaped and never didactic ("Look out! There's the countersubject in inversion on the alto." ).
How much you liked the choir's account of the motet Jesu meine Freude might depend on how much expressive intervention you are happy to accept from the conductor. Antunes took a romantically mannered and emotionally extrovert approach characterised by large, dramatic responses to the text.
These ranged from full-throated triple fortes bordering on coarse to the most sudden of subito pianos. The choir delivered impressively on all that was asked of them and were at their most persuasive in the fugal Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich and the quiet Gute Nacht. Many of Antunes's special effects were indeed arresting, but I couldn't help reflecting on how well Bach could just as easily make as much impact without them.
