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While the considerable talents of Ensemble 360’s string players shimmered through Shostakovich in Sheffield at the weekend, the wind-playing virtuosi thrilled in Doncaster. Having first sprinkled inspiration and sparkle into a morning family concert, jam-packed with tasty Music For Curious Minds, they poured passion and enthusiasm into an enthralling evening’s Celebration of Czech Music. Children with adults, few in number but most appreciative, were treated to an hour’s top-class music and interactive fun, led with friendly enthusiasm and buoyancy by Ellie Moran. Clapping, singing, questions and answers, a spot of enjoyable volunteer conducting, and explorations of instruments, mutes and mouthpieces were interspersed with stunningly played pieces as roles of rhythm, melody, expression, speed, dynamics and mood were fabulously demonstrated, experienced and played about with. In the quintet’s mix: Haydn, Britten, Ligeti, Danzi, Bacewicz, Onslow, Malcolm Arnold’s drunken sailor variations and Valerie Coleman’s rousing African Umoja, plus divine solos from Juliet Bauser’s floating flute in Debussy’s Syrinx and Robert Plant’s jazzy Stravinsky clarinet. In the evening, the five instrumentalists (plus a sixth after the interval) thrilled again both individually and in perfect blend, the first half particularly stunning. Light classical music that rides and flows along in glorious, in-the-moment bubbles of splendour, entirely separate from our real world, came with Wind Quintet Op 88 No2 by Reicha (1770-1836). In fact, Reicha, a lifelong friend of Beethoven, was so keen to write music for wind combos he wrote 24 sets of wind quintets. A joyous Beethoven/Mozart bounce permeates this work as instrumental interplays and harmonious blends, full of beauty and vitality, conjure up regal, jaunty, joyful, thoughtful and mellifluous moods. The players’ stupendous mastery of technique, coupled with a total togetherness of spirit and feeling, sends the wow factor soaring. Each is individually exceptional: combined they’re super stunning. Endless delights emerge from Juliette Bauser’s fabulous flute, Robert Plant’s canny clarinet, Naomi Atherton’s heraldic horn, Adrian Wilson’s undulating oboe and Guylaine Eckersley’s bubbling, to-die-for bassoon. Next, an expressive Wind Quintet by Pavel Haas (1899-1944). Written in 1929 by this pupil of Janacek and inspired, like Janacek, by Moravian folk and dance, Haas combines folk with the heartfelt spiritual yearning of his Jewish heritage in a work of complex rhythms that’s both cheerful and also serious, reflecting the sense of worry and foreboding in Europe at the time. He himself perished in Auschwitz. After the break in this Celebration of Czech Music came Britten (1913-1976). Britten? Czech? Well, no, but his Wind Sextet does use the same instruments as Janacek’s Mladi which followed, so perhaps he is, in one way, a Czech mate? He wrote only one movement for this work and then stopped – well, that’s teenagers for you! He was just sixteen at the time, but seemed already to know where he was heading, and the piece has abundant colour, challenge and interest in tone and texture. As in Mladi, the long bass clarinet is used, its bell resting on the floor, for which fine exponent, Katy Ayling, joined the group. Her busy fingers, like those of bassoonist Guylaine Eckersley, impressed mightily as pleasing mellow depths of dancing notes emerged. More, too, in Janacek’s Mladi, written 101 years ago, in 1924, as a DIY 70th birthday present to himself. Here he reflects on the exuberance, fun and vitality of his schooldays and his golden youth, remembering sadder occasions, too. Again each instrument is showcased, piccolo included, through bursts of chirpy chatterings, chip-chop bubblings, busy pulsings, playful leaps, urgent callings, hearty horn hailings and delicious rapid tumbles of notes, all contrasted by slower, wistful, reflective, less ebullient times. Enhanced by interesting historical snippets from the genial players, it was invigorating, heart-lifting music all the way, all played astoundingly well. Eileen Caiger Gray
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