Irish Timeswriters review a selection of events
Opera Ireland, Gaiety Theatre
Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro
OPERA IRELAND'S new Nozze di Figaro, a Marc Adam production restaged by Pascale-Sabine Chevroton, with sets by Jean Bauer and costumes by Pierre Albert, is framed with sexual gags.
The production opens with Figaro and Susanna in bed, and instead of Figaro's counting being about the measurements of the room, he looks down under the bedclothes to suggest what he might be measuring.
And at the end there's a visual gag about a quadruple erection of a scale that almost doesn't bear thinking about.
These gestures are typical of an approach that consistently guys with the world of the plot, playing with the visibility of the walls of the set, having Cherubino climb up an internal ladder for his jump.
The problem is that it's not quite clear whether the audience is then expected to laugh with the piece or at the piece.
The production is a lively one, not least because of the controlled energy that emanates from the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Jari Hämäläinen.
The playing is tight, the tempos very brisk, the balances between stage and pit exemplary. And Hämäläinen manages to bring the singers with him at his often daring speeds.
On the other hand, there does seem to be a want of musical flexibility, a failure to accept that certain musical points and emotional shadings do actually need a shift of gear, a moment of relaxation to register.
The two couples at the heart of the plot are well-cast, Francois Lis and Maria Carola a persuasively youthful Figaro and Susanna, Paul Armin Edelmann and Daria Masiero more worldly-wise in their very different ways as the scheming count and put-upon countess.
Anna Agathonos doesn't quite bring the necessary gaucherie and enthusiasm to her Cherubino, though Claudia Boyle has both - and charm too - as Barbarina.
Visually the pale wood set and mostly white costumes with subtle intrusions of colour are as easy on the eye as the singing is mostly easy on the ear.
But there's an essential friction and tension to Figaro which weren't successfully conveyed on the opening night. Until Sunday MICHAEL DERVAN
Kniazev, RTÉ NSO/Altschuler, NCH, Dublin
Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings
Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No 1
Rimsky-Korsakov - Sheherazade
SHOSTAKOVICH'S First Cello Concerto was written in 1959 for Mstislav Rostropovich. Rostropovich was, more than most cellists, equipped to fill the role of soloist as vanquishing hero.
Shostakovich's concerto calls for a performer of Rostropovich-like presence and command, but often has to make do with substitutes which can sound like a boy on a man's errand.
There were no such reservations to be had about Russian cellist Alexander Kniazev, who stood in for the indisposed Pieter Wispelwey with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra on Friday.
Kniazev was open-hearted, gutsy, flamboyant, digging in to his instrument for every last drop of intensity, sometimes at the expense of quality of tone, but always with a sense of passionate engagement.
Contrasting with the highly-individualistic treatment of the solo cello was Vladimir Altschuler's tight control of the orchestra, the key contributions of the horns and timpani etched with exemplary sharpness.
The music-making was not similarly successful in the opening performance of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, a work intended for a large body of strings but now most often heard from groups of chamber orchestra size.
The playing of the first two movements was altogether too blunt, and it was not until the elegy of the third movement that this performance began to gel.
Altschuler racked up the volume for a frequently in-your-face account of Rimsky-Korsakov's Arabian Nights-inspired Sheherazade.
This is a work with, at the best of times, a dangerously meandering narrative, and the extremes of this performance were far from persuasive, in spite of some first-rate oboe, clarinet and cello solos. MICHAEL DERVAN
Efterklang, Button Factory, Dublin
IF SIGUR ROS are the Nordic country's masters of ethereal dreamscapes, Denmark's Efterklang are their agitated offspring, kicking against the limitations of standard song-writing and pulling disparate elements from a wide variety of sources into their panoramic compositions.
Last year's Paradesalbum moved away from the clinical, electronic darkness of their Tripperdebut in favour of a far more organic sound and it's this version of Efterklang that arrived in Dublin.
Expanded to an eight-piece for live duties, with the seven male members of the band wearing matching white shirts and brown jodhpurs, they cut quite a dash as they moved around the stage swapping instruments throughout a rewarding and inspiring set.
What is surprising for a band that cut such complex records is that live there is even more structure and control in what they're producing. Mads Brauer added crackling electronic glitches to the likes of Swarmingand Collecting Shieldsbut with so many musicians on stage we witnessed a proper live show with a lot more heart and depth than any digital trickery could create.
Peter Broderick made use of the rigging as a drum on Chapter 6before returning to the microphone to play the saw, while another live-only member, Niklas Antonson, swapped between trombone, trumpet, bugle and guitar.
Without the full choirs that have graced their albums, the band provided the always exultant backing to Casper Clausen's aching lead vocals, most effectively on the joyous Miradorand the hymnal Cutting Ice to Snow.
What is not so evident from their recorded output is the sheer fun these artists are having. 2008 has been spent on the road, not that any fatigue has crept into their show. There was a bustling energy to Caravan, a gorgeous melody emerging from brass flourishes and band chants. New song Mirror Mirrorwas an extraordinary concoction of vocal harmonies, industrious violins and clattering drums and called to mind a more wide-eyed Arcade Fire.
Delivering a performance that was dramatic at every turn, there is nobody else doing quite what this band is doing right now.
This mesmerising gig was proof that Efterklang have become a must-see live act. BRIAN KEANE
