The most remarkable aspect of this concert, given in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Support, was its integrity.
Although – presumably - the Isis Ensemble operates on modest funds, everything needed for a professional artistic event was in place. Their programme notes - printed on two sides of a simple A4 sheet - were scholarly, pleasing to the eye and gave all the information one could have wished for. Their concerto soloists – the leader of the orchestra and the principal viola player respectively – changed from their uniform black clothes into subdued but attractive coloured shirts for their concerto solos, thus giving inexpensive visual support to their musical insight. And last, but not least, the performances were fully professional (which is not always the case in venues outside the main concert halls).
Their programme opened with Kodály's Summer Evening, an orchestral work dedicated to Toscanini who premiered it in 1930 in New York. The Hungarian flavour is evident in the opening cor anglais solo and later in the piece in the strongly rhythmic peasant dance melody. Whether by design or default, at this performance the opening cor anglais solo was not played softly (as marked in the score). However, rather appropriately, it sounded like a tárogató, that is a variant of the oboe which was a popular national symbol in eighteenth-century Hungary. In the dance melody conductor Jacques Cohen excellently evoked the spirit and tight rhythms of joyous Hungarian national dances.
The two soloists in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K364 – Susanne Stanzeleit violin and Robin Ireland viola – clearly agreed with each other (and with conductor Cohen) about tempi, dynamics and the shapes of phrases. Nevertheless, while Ireland sang on his viola, created a great many nuances as in operatic recitatives and allowed the music to breathe between various musical statements, Stanzeleit seemed more detached.
Cohen's timing and control is excellent. So it was beautifully appropriate that the bells of St. James' – or was it another church nearby? – started to play immediately on conclusion of the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4. Cohen patiently waited for the nine gongs and then proceeded with the second movement (Adagio). This movement would have been ruined if the church bells had played during its performance. On the other hand, the nine bells sounded atmospheric between the two movements in the packed but totally silent church.
The symphony, and indeed the whole concert, benefited from Cohen's clear vision of structure, disciplined passion and reliable direction. For me, the other musical heroes of the evening were husband and wife team first flute Daniel Pailthorpe and first oboe Emily Pailthorpe. Their individual solos and their musical dialogues with each other (as well as with the rest of the ensemble) represented music making on the highest level. It was a joy and privilege to hear them.
By Agnes Kory
Related articles:
Review of Beethoven's Symphony No 3 with Sir Georg Solti (BBC Legends)
Review of Daniel Barenboim conducting Kodály at the Proms
Review of the Manchester Camerata's new recording of Beethoven's Fourth
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