The theme of this year’s Brighton Early Music Festival is “Connections” and with a programme that explores a specific link between traditional Irish music and Italian classical, Smock Alley at St George’s Church amply fits the brief. The pieces are performed by Irlandiani, an ensemble whose five members rotate in and out to make various combinations of cellos, harp, double bass, percussion, Irish fiddle and vocals. The group uses historical instruments to recreate the unique collision of Italian and Irish music as experienced by 18th century Dubliners in their Smock Alley Theatre.
The Neapolitan composer Tommaso Giordani moved to Dublin in 1763 to become musical director of the theatre and three of his cello duos are played tonight. The listening experience becomes one of not just appreciating music because of its place in an established canon but because of its place in a very specific and localised moment in history. You’re led to imagine this composer in a land distant from his home, a country whose established musical tradition is so different to the one he finds himself thrust into. At first it’s hard to hear any Celtic influences in the stately, interlocking cello lines, but then a sprightly movement entitled “Giga” brings to mind the triplets of the Irish slip jig.
The Irish folk tunes played tonight mainly fall on the heartbreaking, lamenting side of the tradition. The fiddle of guest player Una Palliser is plaintive and soulful, the notes sliding into each other in a way that the Giordani’s cellos might have considered positively unseemly. “Farewell to Music”, written by the blind 18th century harpist Turlough O’Carolan, sounds particularly striking in the church’s acoustics. Palliser teases otherworldly harmonics out of the fiddle and lets the in-between notes ring out as if in confrontation with the classical perfection of the Italian tunes.
It’s a delightfully thought-provoking evening with cellist and bandleader, Carina Drury talking us through the selections and giving context. We’re also treated to her newly written compositions which act as a re-evaluation of Irish folk in a more rhapsodic modern classical long form with playful, cinematic hints at dissonance. The evening is brought to a close by two songs sung by fiddler Palliser. Her strident voice is melancholy and attention-grabbing. The final song “The Parting Glass” ends on the words “goodnight and joy be with you all”, and we’re left with the feeling of an evening’s music that has been lovingly curated. It’s a testament to the influence of the 2024 festival’s artistic director Deborah Roberts who very sadly died on 9 September. It’s clear her legacy will be one of opening up new perspectives on old music.
Smock Alley at St. George’s Church, Friday 25th October 2024 as part of Brighton Early Music Festival 2024
