Live at St. Luke’s – The Balanescu Quartet, St. Luke’s Church, August 7th 2015

Tonight is the opening night of Cork’s ‘newest’ entertainment venue, St. Luke’s, which is playing host to a series of gigs throughout the month of August. St. Luke’s Church is one of the oldest churches in Cork city and up to this point the deconsecrated Anglican church has been used for mostly low profile events since being purchased by Cork City Council in 2005.

The excitement in the air is almost palpable and the anticipation builds as the crowd slowly makes its way up Summer Hill North on this pleasant summers evening. For many, this is their first time entering St. Luke’s and it is also their first encounter with The Balanescu Quartet. Some savvy members of the audience come well prepared for the event armed with food, beverages and even cushions for the church pews, all of which adds to the lovely casual ambiance of this gathering.

Without further ado, The Balanescu Quartet arrives on stage and launches into an original piece East with great vigour, displaying their characteristic dynamism. Before continuing, quartet leader Alexander Balanescu, a Romanian violinist, gives the audience some background about the songs that they are about to play. Coming from their album Luminitza, meaning ‘little light’ in Romanian, the following pieces are inspired by Balanescu’s return to Romania after the revolution.

The second song Mother is a lament from the same album. The music weighs heavily upon the audience, the strong emotional current even drawing a tear from an eye or two. One particular highlight in this piece comes from Nick Holland as the cello becomes the dominant line, providing rhythmic interest and disrupting the stillness, instilling a sense of urgency and yearning before returning to sustained chords. Revolution shows another side to the quartet. Balanescu steps away from his violin to deliver deadpan spoken lines such as “Finally something exciting to watch on telly” whilst the rest of the quartet accompany him with primarily harsh dissonant sounds, which violist Katie Wilkinson appears to take great pleasure in playing.

The next set of songs is from the album Maria T. Balanescu explains that this album was written in response to the music of Romanian singer Maria Tanase who greatly influenced him. The first of these songs is Mountain Call which features recorded samples of Tanase singing with unobtrusive live accompaniment from the quartet. The quartet cleverly manages to keep the sentiment of Tanase’s singing simply by imitating and developing Tanase’s line. This is later followed by the song Life and Death. Balanescu explains that the piece is about the “transience of life” and sums up the sentiment of the piece as “life is very short and full of suffering.” Tanase’s melancholic voice is juxtaposed with some sublime string playing, making it a highlight of the evening.

For their final set of songs, the quartet chooses to play the much anticipated Kraftwerk covers that brought them to great acclaim. Another highlight of the night proves to be their incredibly catchy arrangement of The Model, which has the crowd nodding and swaying. After a standing ovation, the quartet treats the audience to a rendition of Kraftwerk’s My Pocket Calculator which puts a smile on everyone’s face.

What sets the Balanescu Quartet apart from other string quartets, besides their incredible skill and the music that they play, is their ability to create music that makes such a great impact emotionally.

Programme:

East – The Balanescu Quartet

Mother – The Balanescu Quartet

Revolution – The Balanescu Quartet

Still with Me – The Balanescu Quartet

Luminitza – The Balanescu Quartet

Mountain Call – The Balanescu Quartet

Aria – The Balanescu Quartet

Wine’s so Good – The Balanescu Quartet

Life and Death – The Balanescu Quartet

The Robots – Kraftwerk cover

Computer Love – Kraftwerk cover

The Model – Kraftwerk cover

Encore: My Pocket Calculator – Kraftwerk cover

Balanescu Quartet:

Alexander Balanescu – Violin/composer

James Shenton – Violin

Katie Wilkinson – Viola

Nick Holland – Cello