Classical review: Caoimhe DePaor & James Taylor
The second concert of the 35th St Barrahane’s Church Festival of Music in West Cork was a really entertaining, wonderfully varied recital. The 11 items performed by these remarkably virtuosic performers ranged from music written in the 1500s to a piece written in 1998 and featured solos for recorder, harpsichord, and organ as well as recorder/harpsichord and recorder/organ duos… a most satisfying variety that was greatly enjoyed by all present.
The rapport between the players was most impressive. They obviously enjoy working together and I look forward to hearing them again in October’s East Cork Early Music Festival.
The opening items gave promise of what was to follow: the charming song variations by van Eyck (1590-1657) ended in a dazzling display of runs and roulades, made light of by Caoimhe on recorder, followed by a stunning display of harpsichord virtuosity by James in Sweelinck’s ‘Onder een Linde groen’. These instrumental fireworks were followed by a gorgeous Italian sonata for recorder and organ by Fontana (1580-1630) and I was greatly impressed by the balance, phrasing, and rhythmic flexibility in this.
I found some of the music that they chose — Langlais’ (1907-1991) Theme and variations for organ, Rubbra’s (1901-1986) Meditation on a song by Josquin des Prez, and Chedeville’s (1705-1782) Sonata VI — to be somewhat inconsequential but these were balanced by the music of Vivaldi, Bach, Farinelli and, especially, Benjamin Thorn.
James Taylor’s virtuosity, playing music written by Sweelinck in the 17th century, had astonished me. Caoimhe De Paor matched this brilliance, and had us laughing out loud with delight, as she performed ‘The Voice of the Crocodile’ by Benjamin Thorn (b.1961) on tenor recorder — into which she also sang as she played! She showed easy rhythmic flexibility and musically satisfying phrasing in the Allemande from Bach’s Partita in A minor but I was less impressed by the rhythmically uneven final Allegro from Bach’s Trio Sonata in F. The excitement engendered by Vivaldi’s Concerto in G for sopranino recorder, however, more than compensated.
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