Classic Rhythm thrills audience
This unusual group (flute, piano and percussion) gave an amazing performance on September 17th to start the Arran Music Society’s new season of concerts. Like the Marx Brothers getting an impossible number of people out of a ship’s cramped cabin, they unloaded an extraordinary number of instruments from a modest-sized van, and set up an orchestral-sized array that made the normal drum-kit look minuscule. Marimba, glockenspiel, xylophone, Chinese gong, kettle drums, tom-toms, bells, blocks – there seemed no end to it. And in the middle was Chris Brannick, who with Helen O’Connell on flute and Adrian Sutcliffe on piano, gave a series of simply astonishing performances.
Kicking off with Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, the group at once demonstrated an irreverent liveliness coupled with meticulous precision. Chris Brannick, in the middle of his array of instruments, leapt with balletic speed from one instrument to another, swiftly changing sticks and at one point managing a rapid touch on the tambourine with a beater snatched from his pocket. With the expressiveness of dance and the accuracy of fencing, his performance was so highly co-ordinated as to be something of a mathematical miracle. The range of sound produced ran from high, delicate sounds to sonorous drum-beats, but throughout, it had perfect control and balance. And that was just the percussion part.
Superb performances from Aidrian Sutcliffe on piano and Helen O’Connell on flute turned the percussion into a full orchestral sound. Aidrian’s skilled and sensitive playing supplied the entire harmonic background, and the rapport between him and the other two players had the exact timing of the truly expert chamber music player. In addition to this, he is a composer, and had made the arrangements used by Classic Rhythm. His treatment of Bernstein’s West Side Story was masterly, full of dramatic, highly emotional sound, and managing the transition between the famous tunes without ever letting one fall to nothing before introducing the next. The long piece had complete dramatic cohesion, and the emotional impact of the story shone through, wordlessly but with tremendous power.
Helen O’Connell is, quite simply, the best flautist I have ever heard. Her tone is pure and clear, never venturing into the heavily overblown range that can cause tonal roughness, and her technique is of course flawless – but over and beyond that, she plays with a dramatic intelligence that causes every phrase to speak to the audience. This is music with an emotional content that is never sentimental, but can never be ignored. Her playing has authority, not in any hectoring sense but because of its absolute integrity. She communicates meaning directly to the audience, and because of this, she leaves them with a sense of having shared in an experience that was both special and closely personal.
The trio were never lacking in the humour that springs up between players who are enjoying the close rapport that makes everything work, but at the same time, they produced moments of great beauty. Marimba and piano in Debussy’s Clair de Lune were strangely beautiful, as was Helen’s haunting introduction of the old song, Strawberry Fair, into a clever arrangement of four national folk tunes that wove together at the end in an intricate tapestry. Ravel’s Bolero, so often an endurance test for both players and audience, came newly to life with its varied colours and textures, and Rossini’s William Tell Overture was brilliant from the famous flute solo onwards, and had the audience cheering. Truly, a night to remember.
