Irish Times critics review Rogé, RTÉ NSO/Markson at the NCH; Vesselin Stanev (piano) at the Airfield Trust, Dublin; and The Caretaker at Andrew's Lane Studio, Dublin.
Rogé, RTÉ NSO/Markson
NCH, Dublin
Derek Ball - Passant de Maupassant de mauvais passant.
Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No 2. Berlioz - Benvenuto Cellini Overture. Debussy - La mer.
This was a sure-footed concert that did justice to a wide-ranging and demanding programme.
The soloist in Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No 2 was Pascal Rogé. He never set out to impress, he just got on with the music.
Through excellent technical and musical control he captured, with equal faithfulness, this unusual work's mixture of subtlety and bravado. Faithfulness was also characteristic of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra's contribution. The players were responsive to the conducting of Gerhard Markson, who seemed at one with Rogé in understanding how to shape the music with verve, yet with sensitivity to detail.Shaping is one of the main challenges of Debussy's La mer, and was a strength of this performance.
Thanks partly to good orchestral balance and a goal-driven yet flexible rhythmic style, this classic of musical evocation was consistently engaging.
The concert opened with the first performance of Derek Ball's Passant de Maupassant de mauvais passant. Born in 1949 and a former pupil of AJ Potter and James Wilson, Ball has made his career in medicine but, especially since 1990, has produced a large number of works of which this one, lasting around 15 minutes, is among the longest. Written in 2003 for large orchestra, it is designed to reflect the progressive darkening of Maupassant's writing, as the syphilis he contracted in his 20s took progressive hold.
The style is eclectic, but full of personality. Technique is sure, and although the piece is packed with historical references, these do not obtrude, nor do they overwhelm the clarity of idea and process - one of this work's incontrovertible strengths. - Martin Adams.
Vesselin Stanev (piano)
Airfield Trust, Dublin
Scarlatti - Sonatas in F K296, in F minor K50, in D minor K516, in C K357. Schumann - Humoreske. Scriabin - Sonata No 3, Poems Op 32. Chopin - Nocturne in C minor Op 48 No 1, Polonaise in F sharp minor Op 44.
The Bulgarian pianist Vesselin Stanev, in Ireland for a short tour, has a biography which mentions his winning "a special prize" at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and "the Grand Prix" at the Concours Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud. A burrow into the standard reference work for piano competitions reveals him only reaching the second round of the Tchaikovsky in 1982, and taking third place at the Long-Thibaud in 1986.
Never mind. It's the playing that counts, and Stanev acquitted himself very capably in an interesting, off-beat programme at Airfield House on Thursday.
He opened with an unhackneyed selection of four sonatas by Scarlatti, which he played with an acute sensitivity for Spanish rhythmic snap and a romantically alert ear for tonal variety, with pedalling that was dry rather than rich.
Already in the Scarlatti he showed great skill in handling the limitations of the small Kawai grand he was playing, though Schumann's fantastical Humoreske, with its more complex colouristic demands, was rather strait-jacketed by the instrument and also responded less well to Stanev's sometimes rather sculpted style.
The shifting surges of Scriabin's Third Sonata were communicated with moments of expressive hesitation which unnecessarily disrupted the music's flow, but the overall picture was still conveyed with power.
The composer's two Poèmes, Op 32, a chalk and cheese pairing, were captured with altogether more consistent point. Stanev ended in strong form with a Chopin Nocturne (Op 48 No 1) and Polonaise (Op 44 in F sharp minor), both of which he delivered with commanding nobility. - Michael Dervan.
The Caretaker
Andrews Lane Studio, Dublin
It is difficult now to realise that Harold Pinter's early work attracted a good deal of hostile criticism, with adjectives like pretentious, obscure and phoney thrown freely in his direction.
But the author just kept doing things his way, reaching the highlands of an art form he made singularly his own, most recently saluted with the Nobel Prize.
There is really no room left for argument about his genius.
This 45-year-old play shows Pinter working in the terrain he knows best. He slices into human nature to a depth that exposes raw nerves while it touches our own.
The story of a tramp and his relationship with two brothers, one irretrievably damaged by life and the other a small businessman trying to puff himself up, hardly seems the stuff of high drama - but it is.
As it opens, Aston has rescued the tramp Davies from a rough situation, and brings him home for the night.
The following day, Aston shows further kindness to his guest, who begins to take advantage of his host's taciturn nature. Later, when brash brother Mick turns up, Davies is given a job as caretaker and foolishly tries to set the brothers against each other, before being cast out of his improbable Eden.
It is a mistake that sees him back on the menacing streets.
It is essentially a play about relationships and human frailty. Most impressive is Paul Kealyn's Aston, a wounded man with a turning point, and Gary Egan runs him close as the mercurial, self-deluding Mick.
Vincent Fegan's competent Davies is rather too cliched, and not helped by an Ulster accent at odds with Pinter's prose cadences. But the play itself remains strong enough to counter weaknesses in this worthwhile outing. - Gerry Colgan.
Runs until April 22nd
