Association of Music Lovers Organise Recital in The Peppercanister

dublin | arts and media | news report

Sunday February 12, 2006 14:13

by Sean Crudden - impero

sean.crudden at iol dot ie

Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth.

087 9739945

First Concert in Ireland

The recital given last night by Bettina Jensen and Karola Theill in The Peppercanister was their first in Ireland. Almost certainly it will not be their last. It was "an education" for the (older) people in the audience. Maybe the performance would have been lost on younger people. However there were one or two young people there - like concert pianist Finghin Collins who really seemed to be caught up in the performance, engrossed and happy.

Bettina Jensen (soprano) and Karola Theill (pianist) performed the following program at The Peppercanister (St Stephen’s Church), Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, last night

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)

Kennst du das Land D 321
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt D 481
Heiss mich nicht reden D 877/2
So lasst mich schienen D 877/3

Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)

Frauenliebe und leben Op. 42 (Eight songs)

Seit ich ihn gesehen
Er, der Herrlichste von allen
Ich kann’s nicht fassen, nicht glauben
Du Ring an meinem Finger
Helft mir, ihr Schwestern
Susser Freund, du blickest mich verwundert an
An meinen Herzen, an meiner Brust
Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmertz getan

INTERVAL

Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)

Allerseelen Op 10,8
Wiegenlied Op 41,1
Die Nacht Op10,3
Morgen Op 27,4

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Ach ich fuhl, es ist verschwunden (from The Magic Flute)

Dove sono (from the opera "Le nozze di Figaro")

Carl Maria v. Weber

Wie nahte mir der Schlummer (from the opera "Der Freischutz")

Two encores were given the first of which was one of Robert Schumann’s most familiar songs. I made no note of the second encore and I forget now what it was.

The performers were both dressed in black. Bettina’s outer garment seemed to me to be a formal coat-type affair. The setting in The Peppercanister gave a certain seriousness to the occasion. The piano sounded very well.

Bettina is a sensitive, dark-haired, intelligent singer with very expressive eyes and facial features and superb singing technique. She sang very many appealing notes especially on low power. Her command of the audience and the way she used her physical stature to do this and to set the mood was exemplary. I suppose there is always a bit of ambiguity between a singer and her audience but by the end everyone seemed to like one another. Indeed it could be said that the audience - by being receptive and still at crucial moments - assisted in the creation of a satisfying number of beautifully achieved musical highlights during the course of the performance.

The style of the pianist was restrained, clipped and slightly dry. She did some cool magic on a few occasions when the piano was called in to complete and resolve a musical passage (at the end of one or two of the songs). She gave the whole recital a foundation of confidence.

To be honest there were many aspects of this performance that eluded my attention and I should really have studied the texts before the concert. There are one or two reservations in my mind that I don’t want to write about because I don’t have enough expertise and because I suspect my judgement is probably mistaken and wrong.

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Comments (2 of 2)

Hi Sean!

by iosaf

Mon Feb 13, 2006 20:28

always enjoy your music reviews. Great to see Finghin Collins still at the keyboard, a life given to music, sure he began at 5 or was it 4 maybe 3.
And not the first time he's appeared on indymedia ireland, his concert at Carlingford 28th 2003 and September 26th 2004 in the National concert hall (of the posh indymedia green wallpaper) were reviewed here too.
He's got a website now http://www.finghincollins.com/ so we can keep track with him.

On another note, the "peppercanister" is very phallic looking isn't it? I wonder how many readers remember the dublinese slang term "peppercanister" or perhaps they just thought it St Stephen's got the nickname from the family silver.

Till next time! keep those tapping musical feet a hopping.

Dance lover and Sean admirer

by Liz O'Donnell - Political

Tue Feb 14, 2006 02:20

Dublin

Sean

How is the form I am glad to see you are keeping a good interest in the arts. You are a good dancer and many times I admired your steps as you glided your partners around the floors of the many dance venues in Ireland. The next night we are at a function give me a dance.

Love from

Liz

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Association of Music Lovers Organise Recital in The Peppercanister

Comments (2 of 2)