LF 26: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective I

Prestonkirk Parish Church East Linton 10/9/26

Jonathan Leibowitz clarinet, Savitri Grier , Amarins Wierdsma violins, Edgar Francis viola,

Laura van der Heijdan cello, Tom Poster piano

Prestonkirk Parish Church in East Linton on the afternoon of 10th September hosted an eclectic programme delivered by members of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, an all-star line-up of top UK-based musicians. The first of their two concerts in this year’s Lammermuir Festival prefaced Brahms’s glorious Clarinet Quintet with a clutch of folksong arrangements, Bartók-inspired music by African-American composer Jessie Montgomery, and a 20th-century classic by Bartók himself. Co-founder of the Collective, pianist Tom Poster, introducing the rest of the programme before the Bartók, said that music rooted in folk traditions was an underlying thematic thread of the programme. Perhaps because of the out-of-the-way venue (it completely foxed my satnav), attendance was disappointing in size (though not in enthusiasm).

The concert opened with Tom Poster’s arrangement for solo clarinet of a Chinese folksong ‘Flowing River’, played by Jonathan Leibovitz from the pulpit of the kirk. Simplicity and purity of line delivered with limpid tone characterised the expressive melody, which reminded me a bit of the opening of Butterworth’s ‘A Shropshire Lad’.

From solo to duo, violinists Savitri Grier and Amarins Wierdsma then played Montgomery’s ‘Musings’ for two violins, a set of 6 short character pieces inspired by the sound world of Bartók’s 44 violin duos, but also with a nod to other composers she reveres, including Bach, Hindemith, Vivaldi, Milhaud, and also some self-quotation. The pieces were virtuosic, evocative and atmospheric, and make use of a wide range of playing effects and techniques. They were played with skill and conviction and a very evident mutual commitment of two chamber players. I was very glad to have heard them but can’t honestly say that I crave a second hearing.

Violist Edgar Francis joined the two violinists for another Poster arrangement, this time of ‘Two Persian Folksongs’. The first was sung by viola over slowly moving chording from the two violins, the melody not unlike that of the French folksong ‘Au clair de la lune’. A quickening of tempo segued into the second, the two violins singing in harmony over a viola drone, vaguely suggestive of bagpipes and remarkably reminiscent of the kind of music Bartók collected in Transylvania and also the rich lore of Eastern European cross-fertilised folk music arising from travelling musicians influenced by Hungaro-Romanian dance, Klezmer and Gypsy/Roma music. By contrast with the Montgomery, I can’t get enough of this music. It was delicious and a super arrangement.

Staying with a trio lineup, but with different instrumentation, Bartók’s 3-movement 1940 ‘Contrasts’ is scored for violin, clarinet and piano. Tom Poster joined Jonathan and Savitri. A commission for classically trained jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman, the fusion of Hungaro-Romanian and jazz tropes was scrumptious. The bluesy first movement recalled the ‘Blues’ second movement of Ravel’s Violin Sonata, but there were Central and Eastern European elements in the mix too. The second movement was Bartók “night music”par excellence, spooky and atmospheric with rumblings from the piano, harmonics and left-hand pizzicato from the violin, and the fluttering trills of nocturnal birds from the clarinet. Staying with the macabre, the finale opened with the violin quoting the Devil’s tritone-tuned violin from Saint-Saëns’ ‘Danse macabre’. The dance, though, was a proper Hungarian knees-up, with tempo changes and episodes in the style of Kodály, and a wild finish. A super piece, given a persuasive and captivating outing. Excellent.

I adore Brahms’ chamber music and his autumnal Clarinet Quintet is a great favourite. With cellist Laura van der Heijden completing the string quartet, we were set for an absorbing and satisfying interpretation of the late masterpiece, And so it was. Mutually responsive phrasing and teasing rubato let the wistful mood of the first movement sing its melancholy mix of unfulfilled longing and regretful tenderness, without any oversentimental wallowing. My favourite bit, a moment of idyllic stillness fashioned from the stormy third subject, was magically realised. The same idyllic calm opened and closed the slow movement, framing an extended dramatic quasi-recitative for clarinet in the middle, fabulously well played. The Andantino radiated a sense of insouciant contentment, while its excited playful Trio section seemed to cast off the melancholy for a time in a Hungarian dance. The finale, one of Brahms’ most finely-crafted theme-and-variations, has a melancholy theme. Each variation spotlights one of the members of the quintet, and the gloom lifts as they tell their individual anecdotes. Finally, though, it reasserts itself. The movement ends with a sigh of regret.

For an audience member, at its best, chamber music can be like eavesdropping on an intimate conversation. I refuse to feel guilty about enjoying this. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective excel in communicating with each other and, in consequence, with the audience. Thoroughly excellent.

Tom returned to make a sextet for the encore. Keeping to the bittersweet mood of the Brahms, smiling through the tears, his arrangement of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Smile’ was “Hollywood meets Broadway”, schmaltz and smooth jazz, and gorgeous.