Irish Timeswriters review recent performances by Academos/Szücs and Adrian Crowley.
Academos/Szücs
Button Factory, Dublin
Geminiani- Concerto Grosso in B flat, Op 3 No 5.
Raymond Deane- Dekatriad.
Tchaikovsky- Souvenir de Florence.
The MA in classical string performance at the University of Limerick's Irish World Academy has given birth. The offspring, a student string orchestra called Academos, gave its first concerts this week and made its Dublin debut at the Button Factory in Temple Bar.
The idea behind the new orchestra is an excellent one. The Irish Chamber Orchestra (ICO), which is also based in the University of Limerick, plays a mentoring role, and ICO players led each of Academos's orchestral sections in this week's performances.
It would, however, be misleading to pretend that the debut programme did anything more than hint at the new venture's true potential. The Button Factory is not a venue designed for the performance of unamplified music. Its dry acoustic is not merely unflattering, but of the kind which highlights the slightest discrepancies of intonation and ensemble.
The orchestra's director, Ferenc Szücs, is a cellist and chose to direct the Geminiani concerto grosso and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florencefrom the cello, seated with his back to the audience. The playing of the Geminiani was surprisingly tentative and the bigger picture of the Tchaikovsky (a difficult work to bring off at the best of times) was not well conveyed.
The central work, Raymond Deane's Dekatriad, provided the young players with their toughest workout. Here Szücs functioned as a true conductor, bringing unexpected romantic overtones to the music, and showing the promise of this new ensemble in the most favourable light. - MICHAEL DERVAN
Adrian Crowley
Whelans Upstairs, Dublin
There is always something heartening and inspiring when an overlooked artist finally begins to gain the sort of recognition he has long been due. The universal acclaim accorded to Adrian Crowley's most recent album, the sublime Long Distance Swimmer, is perhaps more inspiring still, for his songs aren't conventionally catchy, his lyrics aren't platitudinous, his delivery isn't showy. This is praise that, after the unjust neglect of his first three albums, has been hard won and has been won on merit.
This performance was the last of a four-part Foggy Notions residency that ran throughout March, and it saw Crowley take over Whelan's intimate upstairs room with a weekly special guest supporting, such as Boa Morte, Mumblin' Deaf Ro and Carly Sings. This performance saw support from Serafina Steer, a whimsical UK harpist on the Static Caravan label, whose meandering songs occasionally recalled label mates Tunng.
But it was inevitably Crowley's performance that will linger long in the memory. In previous years, his act largely hung on his extraordinary deep, sonorous voice and simply plucked guitar, and here he played his first three songs solo, easing the crowd into the mood. Then, gradually, he was joined by Kevin Murphy on cello, Stephen Shannon on bass and Cillian McDonnell on drums, veterans of other under-appreciated acts such as Jubilee Allstars and Halfset. Together, they gave his music space to breathe, subtly constructing the foundations for his intense voice, with its rich timbre, to enthral the room, and managed that all too rare trick of improving on the recorded versions of his songs.
Whelans Upstairs is an unremarkable space in itself, but when filled with an eager audience and sounds as perfectly realised as these, it feels very special indeed, the deep red drapes covering the windows insulating the crowded room from the bustle of Wexford Street below and cocooning the venue in the music and the moment.
Crowley and his fellow players demonstrated more than enough to suggest that, come the end of August, they will be among the most anticipated performers at Electric Picnic. These aching, poignant songs are ready for bigger stages and bigger crowds. - DAVIN O'DWYER
