Maxim Rysanov and Ashley Wass

Maxim Rysanov and Ashley Wass

Manchester Chamber Concerts Society

RNCM Concert Hall, 19 November 2012

Maxim Rysanov. Photo by Pavel Kozhevnikov and Irina Podushko.

Great viola players are rare, Maxim Rysanov is unique.

He plays a broader range of repertoire, from Bach to Bibik one might say, and has done most in recent years to revitalise the viola, that wondrously fabulist instrument.

The concert in fact began with Bach, a work arranged for solo viola by Simon Rowland-Jones, and ended with Richard Dubugnon’s Incantatio.  There were works by Faure, Debussy, Ravel and Bohuslav Martinu along the way.

Ashley Wass’s piano played a part in all but the Bach, and what made the concert flow, really, was the evident rapport between the two players.  You might characterise Wass’s piano style as being a bit like his suit: bright and businesslike, yet with the occasional delicate feature.

They were called back for, I think, two encores.  A very fine concert indeed.

For details of future Manchester Chamber Concerts Society concerts, kindly click here.

Portrait of Faith

Portrait of Faith

Manchester Camerata

Manchester Cathedral, 4 April 2012

This was a memorable experience, an opportunity to hear religious music in the kind of environment for which it was intended, the hallowed space of Manchester Cathedral.

The programme was varied, though Bach was prominent and rightly so: Cantata no.4 ‘Christ lag in Todesbanden’ related directly to the death of Christ, whilst Cantata no.82 ‘Ich Habe Genug’ expressed a serenity at the moment of death, resting upon a faith in Christ’s Resurrection.  A high point was the Chaconne in D minor from Partita no.2: the performance was breathtaking, compelling, decisive.  As one listened, one sensed it taking shape.

There then followed a brilliant orchestral performance of Arvo Part’s Summa, sacred twentieth century music surely written for the ages.  Works by John Tavener and Roderick Williams and Beethoven’s Elegischer Gesang made up the rest of the programme.

In the main and taken as a whole, the concert was contemplative in character, solemnly drawing the mind towards matters grave – above all, to a reflection on the mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ – and things that ultimately matter.

It was a salutary experience, edifying yet also curiously exhilarating.

Details of Manchester Camerata’s next concert, Portrait Of Love, can be seen here.

Calefax @ the RNCM

Calefax

RNCM Concert Hall, 22 March 2012

 

Calefax. Photo by Oliver Boekhoorn

 

This was quite an eye-opener all around – or whatever the aural equivalent might be – as well as being a pleasurable concert in itself.

They’re a reed quintet, Calefax are, and they seem on this showing to specialise in arrangements of music originally written for strings, perhaps piano especially.

The highlight of the concert, amongst works by Debussy, Michelangelo Rossi and Shostakovich (and a Nina Simone song ‘For All We Know’ played as an encore), was the performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

At first you smile with something like indulgence, especially as you hear the bassoon (Alban Wesly) and the basset horn (Jelte Althuis) take the reins, playing music originally written for the harpsichord.  But this smile soon becomes one of delight, almost childish delight, blossoming quickly into unbridled enthusiasm and admiration.  The other instruments represented were saxophone, clarinet and oboe and the way they worked in combination and unison with the richer tones of the other two was simply wonderful. 

What about ear-enhancer as an aural equivalent of eye-opener?

Anyway, this concert made for an enjoyable, an educational and even an edifying experience.  It was wonderful, quite wonderful.

Calefax have a website, which includes tour dates and everything, here.

St. John Passion by Bach

St. John Passion
By Bach
Manchester Camerata
Bridgewater Hall, 19 April 2011

If you want naked emotion, grievous tears, a refusal of closure: well, all that is to be found in the St John Passion.

This was a compelling performance of the St. John Passion (1724), one of Bach’s great choral works.  A full choir, the St. George’s Singers, and the Manchester Camerata orchestra, complete with two eccentric members of the viol family, the Viola d’Amore and Viola da Gamba, were employed to make vivid and incarnate the final moments of Christ’s life on earth.

It is a fierce piece in many respects, possessing throughout an unassuaged anger, sometimes subdued yet at other times flaring up, as though mourning the death of a dear and very close friend.

There is some justification in saying that the St. Matthew Passion (1727) is the more mature work; there Christ’s death is to a great extent accepted.  The death is an unfortunate necessity, part of the divine plan.  But if you want naked emotion, grievous tears, a refusal of closure: well, all that is to be found in the slightly earlier work.

In brief, there you have the difference between the two.