Irish Timeswriters review O'Connell, Connollyat the NCH in Dublin; Shirley Valentineat the New Theatre in Temple Bar; and Róisín Elsafty, Siobhán Armstrong and The Tap Room Trioat Tradition: DL in Dún Laoghaire.
O'Connell, Connolly
NCH, Dublin
"Summer Sounds at Lunchtime" is placing the organ at the centre of two concerts this month - a move that ought to help dispel some of the aloofness of the King of Instruments.
David Connolly, organist of St Michael's Dún Laoghaire, began this first concert in flamboyant style with Tournemire's Victimae paschali, and kept a firm grip on the tension throughout its cascading passages and emphatic chords.
At the climaxes, the NCH organ sounded at its loudest and brashy best, but elsewhere certain mechanical problems showed up - with disruptive effects on Stanford's reposeful Preludein G Op 105 No 3.
Connolly might have been more deferential in his treatment of the cherished Finale from Vierne's Symphony No 1, where his control was looser than it had been in Bach's Jig FugueBWV577.
He'd been kept busy by some fiddly arrangements of orchestral accompaniments to solos sung by mezzo soprano Naomi O'Connell, whose contributions to the programme were dazzling.
O'Connell (21), from Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, is studying at the DIT Conservatory. The recipient of the prestigious IAWS John McCormack Vocal Bursary, she also garnered three prizes at last January's Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition.
Her burgeoning technique nimbly spanned the exacting two octaves of Laudamuste from Mozart's Mass in C minor, and effortlessly sustained the melancholy sinews of Dido's Lamentby Purcell.
But what impressed most was her remarkable maturity of interpretation and vocal colour, specially evident in songs by Wolf and Gounod. It cannot be long before this artist is entrancing audiences with Mahler and Strauss. - Andrew Johnstone
Shirley Valentine
New Theatre, Temple Bar
Willy Russell has the knack of creating strong women, and never more effectively than in Shirley Valentine, in which the eponymous heroine has the only role. But it also plays host to many others, to Shirley's family, neighbours and acquaintances.
She contains multitudes, coming vividly alive through the extensions of her self to them.
She used to think that she would leave Joe when the children grew up; not that he's bad, just no bloomin' use. Now 42, she surveys the past in which her personality was consumed by a myriad of robotic functions. Her divorced neighbour Jane, an uncontained feminist, wins a holiday in Greece for two, and invites Shirley. It's out of the question, of course.
But then Joe loses the head after being served egg and chips on Friday, a day sacred to mince, and Shirley reconsiders. She doesn't ask or even tell him, but just goes. Jane finds a man and deserts her friend for a few days. But in that lull of time, Shirley finds her courage and the possibility of a new life. She won't go back to the quagmire of the past.
Nicola Hollinshead, directed by Ronan Wilmot, gives the performance of any actor's life, seducing the audience from the start with a highly individual blend of character, comic observation and self-analysis. She starts out as an angular denizen of a working-class estate, whose main mode of escapism is, literally, talking to the wall. After her Grecian apotheosis, she has morphed into a serene, beautiful woman of independent character. The process is called acting, and it is a delight to experience here. - Gerry Colgan
Róisín Elsafty, Siobhán Armstrong and The Tap Room Trio
Tradition: DL, Dún Laoghaire
With the best of the bank holiday weekend weather at its disposal, Dun Laoghaire's inaugural Tradition: DL festival launched itself boldly last Friday night against a backdrop of old Irish harp, sean nós song and a swathe of traditional tunes that all too rarely see the light of day.
Róisín Elsafty has invigorated Connemara sean nós singing with a lightness of touch and a fine ear for the subtlety of her native song. Her modest, self-effacing stage presence belies a formidable repertoire. Setting her stall out with Eleanór A Rún, Elsafty raked over the coals of this tale of infatuation with equal parts grace and elegance.
Siobhán Armstrong breathed extraordinary life into her traditional Irish harp, infusing its harpsichord-like sound with an unmistakeable medieval mood. Her erudition cast a sharp light on a set list that returned Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin's iconic Tabhair Dom Do Lámhclose to its original state, divesting it of the rhythmic intensity of Planxty's seminal version and rendering it anew in a refreshingly bare-boned state that emphasised the fragility of the original melody line.
Armstrong's revelation that the ancient Irish tune Cailín Ó Cois tSiúire Méwas afforded a Shakespearean reference in one of his 'Henry' plays (albeit under the grandiosely titled Callino Casturame) added hugely to our enjoyment of the music, her melding of history, literature and musical genealogy igniting the curiosity of her mesmerised audience.
The Tap Room Trio arrived to a rapt reception, their all-too-rare live performances having created a frisson of excitement that whispered of those tickled at finding themselves in their company. Their decision to mine the past for a setful of long-buried tunes rescued from old cylinder recordings left punters gasping with every newly-minted reading. - Siobhan Long
