Live music - Elysian Quartet

St Multose, Kinsale 3/5

The Elysian Quartet made their Irish debut at St Multose Church where they performed the opening music concert of the Kinsale Arts Festival.

Specialising in contemporary and experimental music and boasting notoriety in the field, their first play left me asking, why ‘contemporary’ music all too often equates to long held drones with a series of scratches, knocks and bangs.

Theirs was a sophisticated series with circular scratchings, chalky bouncings and furtive fiddly flickings; still it left me cold. In the audience, a boot knocked against a pew and a bottle opened with a fizz. All part of the performance? Pointed stares told me perhaps not. The viola ascended, through the scales, to the extreme of the instrument to the heavens and beyond and then silence. The piece, a text score, ‘70 Chords for Terry’ by American composer Pauline Oliveros.

Conor Linehan’s ‘Macbeth Suite’ received its premiere performance. A précis of a larger work, this suite joyfully communicated without a single scratch or tap. The second movement was beautiful, graceful and dignified, reminiscent of the Renaissance and satisfyingly irreverent in its tonal twists. Strong robust polyphony of cinematic proportions brought us on an epic journey. Each new concept brought new thrills but I ached to experience the fuller original work. Delicious play and a world-worthy premiere.

The second half featured a collaborative work between British composer Richard Skelton and the Quartet. Emulating birds and flora suggested by the Suffolk countryside, the written score presented a list of descriptive linguistic terms for each. It was the Elysian Quartet’s assured skill that made it worthy of attention. Closing with work by American composer, Meredith Monk, by now the seat was too hard, the autumn air too cold and the concept of dancing musicians all too new-age. Experimental music, love it or hate it, that both challenged and entertained.

- kinsaleartsfestival.com