Repeatedly this summer, the Christ Church Cathedral Concerts have been the only gig in town, especially on weekends. Gerald Peregrine (cello) and Cathal Breslin (piano) was a delight and a virtuoso performance.
Both performers are the most exciting of the new generation and Peregrine’s cello work is splendid. A romantic mood was established with a frothy cappuccino or smashing macchiato, with a Beethoven variations on Mozart’s Magic Flute with lyrical piano interludes and sweet cello notes soaring into the roof.
A Mendelssohn cello sonata No. 1, opus 24, was a virtuoso treat with a brooding opening Allegro providing lots of busy attacking passages, before a deep sonorous sound established an Andante of melancholy baby tunes, sweet sadness and nostalgia that suited a grey morning with the sun refusing to shine. The final Allegro Assai was bleaker to start with before a lovely fusion of cello and piano and in my imagination I kept hearing snatches of April Showers.
An un-scheduled Irish composition for solo cello, by Eilis Farrell, was ghostly and haunting, like a slow air and a revving motorcycle outside, added another layer to the mix.
A Chopin Polonaise brillante was upbeat and romantic like a movie soundtrack panning a sea after a storm or a battlefield. This was light airy and frothy.
A Tchaikovski ballet tune was a beautiful encore on a special morning concert.
