United Kingdom ‘Sea Wrack’: Cameron Menzies (Director), Sara O’Neill (Designer), Susie Gibbons (soprano), Jenny Bourke (mezzo-soprano), Michael Bell (tenor), Seamus Brady (baritone), Frasier Hickland (piano). St Joseph’s Sailortown, Belfast, 19.2.2023. (RB)
Hamilton Harty, arr. Bryan Evans and Tristan Russcher – ‘Sea Wrack’
Hamilton Harty – ‘Lovely Jimmie’; ‘To the Gods of Harbour and Headland’
John McCormack/Thomas Moore – ‘She is Far from the Land’
William Vincent Wallace – ‘Sainted Mother, Guide his Footsteps’
Charles Wood – ‘At the Hour of Night’
Herbert Hughes – ‘A Young Maid Stood in her Father’s Garden’
Trad. arr. Neil Martin – ‘Méilte Cheann Dubhrann’
Trad. arr. Matthew Owens – ‘Carrickfergus’
Peter Wilson arr. Matthew Reeve – ‘A River Runs Beneath Us’
Berlioz – ‘Elegy’
Neil Hannon arr. Paul Campbell – ‘Sunrise’
This live performance was the third of six productions making up Northern Ireland Opera’s Salon Series that includes staged performances in buildings throughout Northern Ireland. The venue was St Joseph’s, Sailortown in Belfast, which was previously a church and is within the strategy of being remodeled right into a neighborhood and humanities hub. The live performance was a celebration of the Irish artwork music, and the strap line was the title of the primary music on the programme by Hamilton Harty.
Cameron Menzies and Sara O’Neill festooned draped sails across the church consistent with the nautical theme. The performers had clearly been effectively choreographed and moved freely across the venue as they carried out their songs. Michael Bell walked as much as the Church pulpit to ship the penultimate extremely dramatic aria by Berlioz. My one main gripe with the venue was that it was uncomfortably chilly, so it may be value investing in some heaters for future performances.
The first two songs within the programme have been by the celebrated Irish composer, Hamilton Harty. All 4 singers carried out in ‘Sea Wrack’ which praises the crops which adorn our seashores and produce the seaside scent. All 4 singers introduced a richness of tone to the music, and I liked the voluptuous harmonies they created. Old church buildings can generally have a difficult acoustic which is troublesome to barter and infrequently a number of the diction was misplaced when all 4 have been singing. Frasier Hickland did an impressive job creating the surges and swell of the ocean on the piano. Jenny Bourke gave an affecting and heartfelt efficiency of Harty’s association of the Irish folks music, ‘Lovely Jimmie’. Seamus Brady introduced an easy lyricism and wonderful diction to ‘She is Far from the Land’ in an association by John McCormack and Thomas Moore. Susie Gibbons and Jenny Bourke joined forces for ‘Sainted Mother, Guide his Footsteps’. Both singers confirmed their operatic credentials with this duet, and I liked the best way their voiced merged collectively to create prolonged mellifluous traces.
Charles Wood’s ‘At the Hour of Night’ conveys the longing conjured up when one remembers previous ardour. Michael Bell sang with nice great thing about tone and wonderful diction and the legato traces have been prolonged fantastically. Jenny Bourke and Seamus Brady introduced a way of melancholy and comfort to the normal Irish music ‘Méilte Cheann Dubhrann’. There was one thing significantly poignant about listening to this music carried out in Gaelic. Jenny Bourke took centre stage once more to offer the premiere efficiency of Michael Owens’s association of ‘Carrickfergus’. She gave a luminous efficiency injecting emotions of disappointment and reflections of misplaced love.
Susie Gibbons introduced vocal energy and authority to Hamilton Harty’s ‘To the gods of Harbour and Headland’ efficiently capturing the surging, bracing high quality of the music. Frasier Hickland dealt with the intricate piano half with aptitude and dexterity. Berlioz’s ‘Elegie’ is a setting of Irish author Thomas Moore’s account of Robert Emmet’s well-known speech from the gallows. The latter was an eighteenth-century insurgent chief who hoped to unshackle Ireland from British rule. Michael Bell gave a stirring, extremely dramatic account, bringing the historic occasions vividly to life. All 4 singers mixed for the ultimate music on the programme, ‘Sunrise’ by Neil Hannon, in an association by Paul Campbell. With its name to place variations apart, this was an uplifting approach to finish the recital.
All 5 of those younger performers have been extraordinarily spectacular on this celebration of the Irish artwork music.
Robert Beattie