Sublime music in the company of two world-class musicians from Wales and Ireland
Newbury Spring Festival: Catrin Finch, harp, and Aoife Ní Bhriain, violin
at Donnington Priory
on Tuesday, May 21
Review by STEPHEN OTTNER
THE Spring Festival concert at Donnington Priory with harpist Catrin Finch and violinist Aoife Ní Bhriain was an evening of sublime music in the company of two world-class musicians from Wales and Ireland respectively.
The performance was enhanced by being purely acoustic, with the only amplification being a voice mic for the relaxed and informative chat between pieces.
Bach was the foundation for this musical collaboration and our evening started with a Bach Partita. In January 2021, having not performed publicly for nine months due to the pandemic, both Catrin and Aoife participated in the online Welsh music festival Other Voices. While exploring the idea of a musical collaboration and in the search for common ground, it was JS Bach that provided a starting point.
The shared legend of the bees being led from Wales to Ireland over the sea by boat provided the inspiration for their second piece Wander, a mesmerising trance-like piece in which the audience were engrossed and seemed to breath more slowly.
For Woven, based on Pietro Locatelli’s Caprices, Aoife switched to her beautifully decorated Norwegian Hardanger fiddle.
Catrin and Aoife’s Celtic heritage was further explored with Waves combining an Irish hornpipe Galway Bay and an old Welsh tune My Mother-in-Law’s Lament.
A violinist in the audience I spoke to in the interval was in awe of both musicians’ ability to embrace both classical and folk styles of playing.
The second half started with Saint-Saëns Fantaisie for Violin and Harp. Very classical, very romantic, weaving together lyrical melodies, sparkling arpeggios and exquisitely performed.
With the next pieces being Why and Waggle (back to the bees connection), the audience was left in no doubt about the common naming theme on the album.
The performance had a magical quality about it, the musical conversation between the artists, the ability to let their instruments not only talk to each other, but to make the spellbound audience the third member of the trio. For the – inevitable – encore, Catrin and Aoife returned to the stage with their Wish for harmony in a discordant world. A piece based on a Welsh tune The Ash Grove and an Irish wedding song Tabhair dom do Lámh (Give Me your Hand).
A memorable musical evening, all credit to the Spring Festival and to Dreweatts for providing the venue and sponsoring the evening.
