Review by Garth
Cartwright
This was certainly not going
to be the usual for me: Violinist Alexander Balanescu leads a contemporary
classical quartet, not a form of music I’m particularly familiar
with. Don’t get me wrong – I love classical music and own a few
contemporary CDs (Goreki, Reich, Glass and co’ – yes, the
really obvious ones) but how to describe the evening’s music?
Difficult seeing I tend to enjoy classical as home listening but very
rarely make the effort to read about it. Balanescu I at least knew was from
Romania and had worked with a variety of musicians from different fields
– I believe he was signed to Mute at some point – but beyond
that I’m a novice here.
I
arrive to find singer-songwriter Ada Milea on stage. Milea is also Romanian
and “singer-songwriter” is an extremely limiting way of
describing her intense and very offbeat approach to making music.
She’s petite, wild eyed, not someone you imagine gives way easily and
definitely not a devotee of the Joni Mitchell school of singer-songwriter
pap. The audience likes her a lot but she’s off and The Balanescu
Quartet take the stage – 3 violins and a cello, all sight reading.
The music begins, tense, taut pieces, very driven, no room for melody or
any relaxing. I’m reminded of Fassbinder films and, more
embarrassingly, Apocalyptica (a Scandinavian cello trio who specialise in
covering the works of Metallica and co’) who I once witnessed whilst
working at Montreux. After a few numbers of such Balanescu addresses us as
to how they recently worked on a project celebrating the work of the
late-Maria Tanase (she being Romania’s Piaf and a fabulous singer).
These numbers have a more plangent, Eastern folk feel and are very
beautiful, lots of drone and that aching melodic sense. Nice.
Intermission.
The Quartet are back on joined
by Ada Milea and they’re performing a music-spoken word absurdist
piece that supposedly references Ceausescu’s rotten regime. Amusing
but too avant-theatre for my liking. Then