Kaleidoscope Night at Bello Bar, Dublin, on 7 September 2016

 Kaleidoscope Nights return to the Bello Bar tonight for its seventh season. Few Dublin salon nights can claim success equal to Kaleidoscope, which has become a staple of the Dublin music scene in recent years. It is clear even approaching the venue that its popularity has not flagged over the summer vacation. “Sold Out” signs are almost triumphantly displayed outside the venue.

Kaleidoscope audiences are about as diverse as the programmes themselves, and they have turned up in abundance this evening. There is a nonchalance about the atmosphere, making it easy to forget that a concert is about to start. People hurriedly dash to the bar for supplies as the seventh season is introduced.

David Adams

The evening opens with Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with Helena Wood and Elaine Clark taking the lead accompanied by David Adams on harpsichord and a string quartet consisting of Orla Ní Bhriain, Larissa O Grady (violins), Karen Dervan (viola), and Polly Ballard (cello). There seems to be a slight lack of engagement between the musicians, perhaps owing to the unusual setting. There are missed opportunities in the ensemble to feed off of the exhilarating rhythms and stresses of the work. Adams’ habitual flare for Bach brings the continuo to life. Soloists Wood and Clarke make an excellent pair, and mingle in each other’s gestures elegantly with purposeful sense of line.

Next, brothers Shayab and Shahan Coohe make their Kaleidoscope debut. The first piece was improvised and performed on the dulcimer-like santoor and, alternately, the tombak (drum) and plucked tar. Their improvisational style is rhythmically driven and, despite obvious differences, there are echoes of the Bach throughout their music.

After the audience restock their tables in the interval, David Bremner takes to the stage with his toy piano, quite a change in instrument for an organist. Jonathan Nangle’s piece Vivid Traces is as much an engineering project as a composition since he put together his own Music Box and punched the reels himself. The Music Box’s very regular rhythmic pattern is contrasted with syncopated rhythms by Bremner. This piece is almost as much a visual delight as an aural one as the reels, two either side, wind out from the machine toward the audience, accompanied by the buzzing of the mechanics which add another, perhaps unintentional element. Bremner plays this piece with precision and great character.

John Cage’s Suite for Toy Piano is a simple yet charming work with no movement lasting more than about 2 minutes. Bremner manages to overcome the simplicity and perhaps deliberate dryness of the suite and uncovers new depth to the music in an engaging performance.

The night comes to an end with a fusion of Persian and Irish trad music that almost has the audience dancing. If tonight’s concert is anything to go by the seventh season of Kaleidoscope should be as popular and trend-setting as the previous six.

Programme:

Bach: Concerto for Two Violins BWV 1043

Shayab and Shahan Coohe: Persian Improvisations

Jonathan Nangle: Vivid Traces

John Cage: Suite for Toy Piano

Navá: Fusion Persian/Irish Music