Music review: Dawn Upshaw, Andalucian Dogs, Brodsky Quartet

Published on Monday 18 May 2009 18:49

DAWN UPSHAW, ANDALUCIAN DOGS, BRODSKY QUARTET **** OLD FRUITMARKET, GLASGOW

FOR its debut concert at the Old Fruitmarket, the International Classical Season placed a glass of champagne in our hands and gave us candlelit, cabaret-style seating to relax in – an informal arrangement that perfectly complemented the folk-inspired programme.

Written during a period of heartbreak, Bartok's String Quartet No 1 has pain etched in every bar – an emotion mirrored by the intensity of the Brodsky Quartet. Joined by American soprano Dawn Upshaw for Bartok's Five Hungarian Folk Songs, they skipped from jaunty, finger-plucking numbers to mournful laments.

With four Grammy awards to her name, and more than 50 recordings, Upshaw is so at home with her vocal range that she instantly passed that comfort on to us. Ayre – meaning air or melody in medieval Spanish – is a song cycle written specially for her by Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov. Bringing together text and music from three cultures – Christian, Arab and Jewish – Golijov called the work a "forest" for Upshaw to walk through. Sometimes the terrain was joyful, other times almost militant, but it was in the upper register numbers that Upshaw shone. Golijov also gave the ten-strong Andalucian Dogs some diverse fare, although, incongruously, a pre-recorded backbeat occasionally joined in, only to detract from the wonderful live atmosphere.

Ironically, the most beautiful song of the evening was about a mother roasting and eating her son. Sometimes it pays not to read the translation.