Music Review: Ensemble 10/10, Liverpool

Jan 21 2008 by Phil Key, Liverpool Daily Post

IF THERE was ever a problem with an Ensemble 10/10 concert, it’s the fact they are always so different it’s well nigh impossible to compare one with the other.

Their latest was a case in point: a concert inspired by song. Vocal input is something of a rarity for this group.

The concert was titled From Liverpool to New York – inspired, in many ways, as not only are the two places twinned, but there are many other parallels.

There were also a couple of premieres, par for the course in most Liverpool concerts at the moment.

The concert opened with two arrangements of Kate Threlfall songs by Clark Rundell, artistic director of Ensemble 10/10, and conductor for this performance. Rundell is well recognised for his commitment to new music, and to 10/10 in particular, so it was good to hear some of his own work as an arranger and composer.

Threlfall is inspired by soul and jazz and the two lively songs, Sunshine and Learn to Love, were bright, optimistic works performed expertly by the composer.

Michael Torke’s Tropical, the premiere of a work commissioned by Liverpool Culture Company, was a laid-back work which showed the composer in “soft” style, characterised by his use of riffs and samba rhythms. Torke has suggested, off his own bat, that he writes a longer piece to be premiered next season.

Natural Selection, a piece for baritone and ensemble by Derek Bermel, was an altogether tougher, more searching example. It is an eclectic piece, at once edgy and amusing, made all the more so by the performance of Julian Tovey.

Jazz and pop influences were again present in the rather languid Eight Lines, by Steve Reich, while Ian Gardiner’s listen . . . move . . . dance featured Carlo Bowry on electric guitar, and is certainly a piece which deserves a second hearing.

GLYN MON HUGHES