Manchester Collective finished their recent tour in the Carole Nash room of the Stoller Hall, Manchester having performed in Leeds, Glasgow and London.
The programme for this concert featured the music of Danish musician Poul Hoxbro. Hoxbro is a specialist in folk music, particularly medieval Scandinavian and Celtic music so it was really interesting to find out how that world would mix with the Collective’s vision. Needless to say, it was a phenomenal collaboration. The programme was worked on for months and had to be completely arranged as from new, breaking with the collective’s usual format of learning music already created, written on a score.
Musical Director, and violinist in the performance, Rakhi Singh mentioned that the collaborative creative process had quite a bit of going back and forward, changing all the time. Hoxbro provided a treasure trove of ancient airs from Scandinavia and the British Isles and the collective had to provide accompaniments and structures that would knit it all in to a complete programme. Alistair Vennart was called upon to help with the composition and arranging of the music and I must say he really perfectly married the collective’s contemporary voice with the ancient music provided by Hoxbro.
The tone was set from the start with opening horn calls followed by a lively, traditional Norwegian dance – Fanitullen (The Devil’s tune). This was followed by Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite which is an early 20th century piece based on a suite of Renaissance dances. It made an interesting, if subtle, contrast between the informality of folk and medieval music, which was frequently a social and participatory music, with the structured, refined chamber music since the Classical period. Yet, there was a clear medieval feel to this suite, with modal melodies, driving rhythms and pulsing drones.
The afternoon proceeded with a mix of composed pieces – Lully’s Procession Of The Turks, a selection from Ades’ Arcadiana, and traditional pieces.
Vennart’s arrangements included typical folk elements but had a distinctly twenty first century feel with dissonance and a wide variety of sonoric effects and instrumental techniques. Here each instrument really shone and had plenty to say – Rakhi and Simmy Singh on violins, Ruth Gibson on Viola, Abel Selaocoe on Cello and Alan Keary on moody Electric Bass. This ensemble was mostly led by Hoxbro who had an array of ancient flutes, bells, bones, drums and even goats finger nails as a type of rattle. The pipe and tabor was the instrument of choice around the world in medieval times and involved a pipe with three holes played by one hand leaving the other hand free to hit a tabor drum. Hoxbro used this combination frequently and really showed the versatility of the combination – the pipe had a sweet sound more like a flute than a recorder and the drum added some intricate syncopation at times.
An interesting piece in the second half saw Hoxbro tell a medieval story about a priest that cursed mischievous youth to dance on the spot for a whole year. His storytelling was engaging and humorous. This story was peppered with music between sections. I found this to be fascinating as it was exactly as if lifted from the middle ages – storytelling with music and sometimes dance was not uncommon. Here, the Scandinavian airs were given a much more expressionist approach than other pieces and was a fantastic combination.
The evening ended with three songs from Scotland and Ireland, starting with a deep and touching slow air which was extended with an emotional duet between Cello and Electric Bass over which Selaocoe added some vocals from folk tunes from his native South Africa, this then moved in to two fast and rousing dances to end the night with a buzz.
This was a really entertaining evening to a sold out audience. Hoxbro really engaged the audience with his humour and expert knowledge, but more so with his music, bringing to life music that is long forgotten. Sometimes you really wanted to dance along or give out a cheer. On the surface, this mix of centuries old music with modern could seem quite simplistic, but there were many challenges involved in the preparation and creation of this music.
The complexity was there as always in the many, many fine details of how the Collective performed, scored and structured this programme. Educational, historic, entertaining, humorous and touching – this was a delightful performance of an art form that should have more of a place in our culture.
Reviewer - Aaron Loughrey
on - 19/1/20
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