Irish Timeswriters review Julius Caesarat the Abbey, Midori, McDonaldat the NCH and Armoniosain Airfield House.
Julius Caesar, Abbey Theatre, Dublin
Staging Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's riveting drama of political back-stabbing, side- stabbing and neck-stabbing, is bound to carry a certain frisson in an election year. Then again, given its subject - power, civic responsibility, personal loyalty and ceaseless manipulation - it is bound to carry a certain frisson in any year.
The great strength of Jason Byrne's crystal-clear production, which rattles along with the vigour of a centurion's chariot, is its understated confidence. This Caesar, dangerous, oblivious, so isolated he cannot see that his political career is about to end in something worse than failure, would go down as well in Washington or London as here.
A gifted ensemble makes clear that The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a misleading title. Not only does Robert O'Mahoney's hubristic dictator ensure that we root for the daggers, but everyone onstage seems to be campaigning to be the central character.
Frank McCusker's Cassius is nowhere more manipulative than in his apparently aimless footsteps while luring Declan Conlon's Brutus into his coup. Calling him Machiavellian might seem anachronistic, yet Jon Bausor's set and costume designs (where bronze-age armoury may appear beside trenches of the first World War) slyly encourage such historical slips.
If time immemorial seems filtered through our age's sour view of politics, it is underlined by Aidan Kelly's compellingly contemporary Mark Antony.
Kelly plays him not as an imperial sycophant, a canny strategist or a political spin-doctor, but as a combination of all three.
In his famous speech - "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" - Kelly is admirably sneaky, skewing the facts and sketching the battleground for civil war.
That we cannot hope to identify with the attending mob seems a consequence of the political haughtiness of the text.
Shakespeare's play is rife with self-reflexive gags, though: his assassins even wonder about their action's future stage adaptations. Byrne adds some games of his own, such as female cast members stepping into the roles of boy-players.
It is hard to decide whether it is Shakespeare or this archly entertaining production that panders to democratic cynicism. But the last word goes to Octavius, whose powersharing coalition with Antony will be brutally short-lived.
In a delicious barb, this role goes to Tadhg Murphy, who also plays the soothsayer alerting Caesar to the "ides of March".
Clever and cunning, it underscores both the wit of this production and the perpetual relevance of the play: the futility of speaking sooth to power. - Peter Crawley
Runs until March 17th
Midori, McDonald , NCH, Dublin
Hindemith - Sonata in C
Schumann - Sonata in D minor Op 121 Webern - Four Pieces Op 7
Beethoven - Sonata in A Op 12 No 2 Ravel - Tzigane
There was a curious sense of distance about much of the playing in Thursday's celebrity recital by Midori and Robert McDonald at the National Concert Hall. The effect was at its most pronounced early in the programme. Violinist and pianist seemed equally timid about the angularity and dissonance of Paul Hindemith's 1939 Sonata in C. The playing was in many respects highly polished, but the polish was muted.
A little more ardency, a touch of recklessness, even, would not have gone astray in Schumann's D minor Violin Sonata where, again, the fire that burns within was rarely allowed to radiate.
The delicacy and refinement which Midori is capable of were exploited to the hilt in Webern's intensely expressive Four Pieces, Op 7. Sadly, McDonald didn't grade or shade his dynamics to match the almost veil-like thinness of tone that Midori had so superbly at her control.
Kaum hörbar (scarcely audible) is one of the composer's instructions to the two players. On Thursday only one of them delivered it to the letter.
In Beethoven's often playful Sonata in A, Op 12 No 2 - where the first movement opens with an amusing reversal of the two instruments' expected roles - the duo at last seemed to relax into a more easy and balanced partnership. McDonald marred the clarity of the piano writing by pedalling through fast runs, but there was much to enjoy in a spirited and sometimes lyrically successful performance.
Midori pushed away her music stand before launching into the faux-gypsy world of Ravel's Tzigane, a showpiece in which she at last revealed the deft virtuosity on which her reputation is based. The acceleration in the build-up of the final pages, sustained beyond any reasonable expectation, provided a treasurable frisson. - Michael Dervan
Armoniosa, Airfield House, Dublin
How many musicians does it take to play a trio sonata? Answer: four.
The seminal genre of Baroque chamber music gets its misleading name from the three parts written by the composer - for two violins and a bass.
The uncredited fourth musician is the continuo player who fills in the harmonies. The continuo instrument is usually the harpsichord or chamber organ, but - as the newly formed period-instrument group Armoniosa are demonstrating on a tour supported by Music Network - it need not be.
Violinists Anita Vedres and Hannah Tibell and violone player Malachy Robinson have as their musical background the lutenist Richard Sweeney, whose 24-string instrument provides a harmonic backdrop of ample breadth and colour. Sweeney has even turned up a sonata, whose accompaniment with lute is authorised by its composer, Francesco Antonio Bonporti.
Also in the programme are sonatas by Corelli, Telemann and Handel, a loquacious passacaglia by Georg Muffat, and some perky items by Nicola Matteis and Francesco Geminiani.
Despite the varied styles and moods, the only changes of instrumentation occur when the two violinists exchange places. A spot of solo playing would be welcome.
The group is clearly inclined towards the spikier side of Baroque performing style and it took some moments for them to settle into the intimate ambience of Airfield House's library.
They're not afraid of co-operatively pulling the music around, and their extrovert, imaginative approach had its most natural and fluent effects when applied to the more cerebral creations of the German composers. - Andrew Johnstone
At the Hunt Museum, Limerick, Sunday, 6pm. (061-312960)
