This week The Irish Times reviews The Belle Of Amherst, the Orchestra of St Cecilia and Sir Bob Geldof.
Rachel Talbot (soprano), Alison Browner (contralto), Robin Tritschler (tenor) & Philip O'Reilly (bass)/ Orchestra of St Cecilia/Kevin Mallon St Ann's Church, Dublin
Framing their latest selection of Bach's church cantatas between Nos 82 and 83, the Orchestra of St Cecilia, conducted by Kevin Mallon, gave last Sunday's concert a neat sense of structure. With the exception of 81, the cantatas were all written for the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary. In 82, Ich Habe Genug, which is for bass solo, sung with understanding and dramatic feeling by Philip O'Reilly, the mood is of peaceful resignation; 200, of which only a short aria for alto remains, expresses
These cantatas, despite their preoccupation with death, are full of alluring melodies, instrumental obbligatos that rival the vocal parts in length and complexity, and continuo parts of unusual interest. Under Mallon, the orchestra played with a refreshing limpidity and a subtly rhythmic elasticity that avoided the dangers of too rigid a metric scheme. The balance with the excellent team of soloists left nothing to be desired, although the cantatas had differing instrumental demands. The performance went some way towards justifying the claim that the heart of Bach's music is in his cantatas.
- Douglas Sealy
Bob Geldof Vicar Street, Dublin
Sir Bob is back on stage, doing what he does best: tossing nuggets of barbed wit and soul-baring wisdom to an eager, attentive crowd. He's also playing a few songs. The former Boomtown Rat, one-time mastermind of Live Aid and latter-day media mogul hasn't played a gig in Dublin in donkey's years, and a lot of murky water has passed under the bridge since then. Now he's come out the other side, battered and bruised but still bloody-minded and determined to get out there and say his piece.
Looking dapper in a striped suit and red polka-dot shirt, long hair slicked back like a hippie teddy boy, Geldof fronts a band that includes fellow former Rat Pete Briquette on bass and Johnny Turnbull, from The Blockheads, on guitar. As he leads the band through Walking Back To Happiness, Geldof seems ungainly, his six-foot frame perhaps unaccustomed to performing outside the boardroom.
His new album, Sex Age & Death, may not be on the critics' lists of essential records, but it has saved Geldof's life, and when he launches into the bitter, wounded One For Me and the rage-filled Inside Your Head, a transformation occurs. Geldof is once again the cocky, righteously angry young Dub who cut through the bullshit and humbug with a snarl and a strut. When he screams "what the fuck's going on inside your head?", you can almost feel Michael Hutchence squirming in his grave.
Finding his edge, Geldof exhumes I Don't Like Mondays, Banana Republic and Rat Trap, reminding us of a time when he focused his anger on social rather than personal issues. Mudslide, 6 Million Dollar Loser and Pale White Girls may not be a patch on the Rats' best, but they had a raw, razor-sharp impact on Monday. - Kevin Courtney
The Belle Of Amherst Bewley's Cafe Theatre, Dublin
The eponymous belle of William Luce's short play is Squire Dickinson's half-cracked daughter - her description - Emily, one of 19th-century America's greatest poets. In the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts, she was regarded as strange and reclusive, but had a normal enough girlhood. In time, however, she came to see that the soul chooses its own society, then closes the door.
Her father was a stern, reserved man who loved his family at a distance, not indulging in such demonstrative follies as hugging or kissing. Mother was not interested in thought and kept a distance between herself and her radical daughter, who was born with a free mind. Words became her life. The poet lights a candle and goes out, but the flame goes on and on.
The idea of marriage no longer interested her, although she had many suitors. When an apparent patron visited, after eight years of correspondence, she assumed it was with a view to publishing her poems. But the learned professor had come to advise her that her metre was spasmodic and her rhymes uncontrolled. Her creative mind rebelled against his nonsense. Thereafter she considered publication an auction of the mind, a conclusion she was comfortable with.
Her poems were eventually published without compromise on her part. This play follows Emily's ground-breaking journey to its end, an insight into a woman of genius. She loved the word "incandescent", which is, then, all the more appropriate to describe Geraldine Plunkett's portrayal, warm and illuminating. Noelle Brown directs her in a delightful miniature set design by Bronwen Casson. - Gerry Colgan
Runs at 1.10 p.m. until March 23rd; bookings at 086-8748001
