Irish Times writers review Bettina Jensen, Karola Theill, and Nickel Creek

Bettina Jensen, Karola Theill,

St Stephen's Church, Dublin

Schubert - Mignon Lieder. Schumann - Frauenliebe und-leben. Strauss - Allerseelen. Wiegenlied. Die Nacht. Morgen. Mozart - Ach, ich fühl's. Dove sono. Weber - Wie nahte mir der Schlummer

This recital at the Peppercanister Church marked the Irish debut of the German duo of Bettina Jensen (soprano) and Karola Theill (piano). Jensen, from Hamburg, has been a member of the ensemble at the Komische Oper Berlin since 2002 where her roles this season include the Countess in Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and the Queen in Ernst Toch's children's opera, Die Prinzessin und die Erbse (The Princess and the Pea). Theill, from Cologne, is an honorary professor at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin, and also gives Lieder classes in Rostock and Bremen. Jensen is a singer with the constancy and intensity of vibrato one associates more with opera than song recital. Happily, on this occasion, the vibrato did not go hand in hand with the exaggerated dynamic pressure which often accompanies it, though, contrariwise, the vibrato survived in even the quietest passages of Schubert's Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt.

The two performers made little in the way of stylistic distinction between the music of the four composers, drawing all of them into a sort of generalised romanticism, with frequent and damaging fractures of rhythm from Theill at the piano undermining the setting of mood. Jensen's attractive tone was even in production though her phrasing was not always smooth. Although there were niggling problems of intonation at the top of the stave, these disappeared when the closing opera arias drove the voice into its higher reaches.

After the rather monochrome Schubert and Schumann it seemed in anticipation as if the long lines of Richard Strauss might suit her better. But it was in the operatic end of the evening that Jensen sounded most at home. Her tone was at its best and most easy-sounding at its fullest, and she sang the operatic excerpts with greater freedom and naturalness than the songs. On this evidence, the opera house is much more her home than the recital room. - Michael Dervan

Nickel Creek

Crawdaddy, Dublin

There's not a lot of competition in bushwhacker existentialism but Nickel Creek peddle a form of downhome philosophy crossed with an instinctive feel for mountain music that sets them apart from the mainstream. After an absence of two years, this Californian trio basked in the pleasures of what amounted to a homecoming gig. Armed with a knapsack of brand new songs, they revelled in the attention the audience lent every nuance.

Sarah Watkins' fiddle and Chris Thile's mandolin become the fulcrum of the band's sound, with Sean Watkins' guitar lines shoring up the borderline.

Ammunition from their latest album, Why Should The Fire Die? found its target effortlessly. Jealous Of The Moon, Somebody More Like You and Eveline reeked of a band happy to exist at a slight angle to the world.

It's easy to see why Nickel Creek have risen to the surface. Chris Thile is a dead ringer for an illicit offspring of Morrissey and Levon Helm, his shambolic on-stage movement (even he wouldn't christen it dancing) countered by the unapologetically grounded Watkins siblings. Sarah's voice was the worse for wear, but her elastine fiddle more than made up for the odd croakiness.

With echoes of Poi Dog Pondering and the Be Good Tanyas, Nickel Creek cheekily tossed in a tincture of Britney's Toxic and Randy Newman's Short People. At times their harmonies are ragged, and Sean Watkins vocals never stretch past ordinary, but Nickel Creek have a magic potion that's all their own. Unpredictable and uncool - but deliriously fine. - Siobhán Long