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.

Francois Leleux Reed Trio @ the RNCM

Francois Leleux Reed Trio

Manchester Chamber Concerts Society

RNCM Concert Hall, 26 September 2011

Another classy concert arranged by the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society, this one perhaps best described as cheery and honey-hued.

Why so?  Well, because the programme of music – which included works by Saint-Saëns, Dutilleux, Jolivet, Poulenc and (unusually) Beethoven – was intended to delight, entertain and amuse rather than to convey profound emotion.  Sometimes profound emotion is not what you want; it can gnaw at and ravage the soul.

Anyway, those aesthetes with a sweet tooth were well served and, let’s be frank, the bassoon is an inherently amusing instrument due to both its appearance and sound.  Like an elephant’s trunk, it is both weird and wonderful.

The musicianship of Jean-François Duquesnoy, brandisher of said bassoon, was superb and his companions, François Leleux on oboe and Emmanuel Strosser on piano, were on a par with him.

Vive le basson!