Richard Adams Interviews Members of Ensemble Avalon

Ensemble Avalon members:

Michael McHale, Piano

Ioana Petcu-Colan, Violin

Gerald Peregrine, Cello

CD available for purchase at the Ensemble Avalon Website

Richard Adams:  You’re a relatively young trio.  How did the three of you meet and then decide to form the Ensemble Avalon?  

Ensemble Avalon: We met a few years ago when we were all involved in concerts with the Irish pianist Barry Douglas and his chamber orchestra, Camerata Ireland. After reading through some trios together we organised a few concerts around Ireland, enjoyed working together, and have continued from there.

RA: In the few years you’ve been together, you’ve made many concert tours in Europe and the UK and you’ve just recorded your first CD.  While traveling in and out of Ireland, do you feel a responsibility to promote “Irish” culture and music?    

EA: Although the fact that we are all Irish is definitely important to us as a group, as well as the fact that we do give a lot of concerts in Ireland, we don’t necessarily feel the need at this stage to make this the main focus of our work. At the moment we’re really enjoying performing as wide a range of repertoire as we possibly can, from the core repertoire of the 18^th and  19^th centuries to lesser known 20^th century works. However, we are definitely keen on the idea of working with Irish composers (our first commission as a group has just been completed by the Dublin composer Ronan Guilfoyle, to be premiered in Wexford this November) and hope to build more Irish works into our future concert programmes.

RA: For your very first CD, you’ve selected a program of piano trios by Bax, Beethoven and Bernstein. How did you come up with that rather unusual combination?  

EA: As mentioned above, all three of us really like the idea of programming the canonic masterpieces alongside lesser known, more modern works – so we thought it would be great to do the same thing on our first recording. So, alongside Beethoven’s Ghost trio, we chose the Bax and Bernstein trios, of which there are barely a handful of existing recordings. They were written within ten years of each other, yet could barely be from more different musical worlds – that of the young, brash American student embarking on an exciting career, juxtaposed with the old British veteran, looking back with nostalgia.

RA: The Bax Piano Trio comes from very late in his composing career.  Some say it burns a little less intensely than many of his earlier chamber works but at the same time is a more disciplined work that still shows the old master at his best.   Would you agree?  

EA: It is clearly different in approach to some of those earlier works such as the Piano Quintet or Viola Sonata, and as is often the case with so many composers’ later works, there is a paring down of flourish and flamboyance, most notably in the piano writing. However, the first two movements in particular are beautifully fashioned musical structures that also demonstrate Bax’s wonderful talent for harmonic invention and manipulation, one of his greatest strengths thoughout his career.

RA:  Does Bax’s association with Ireland have any bearing on your decision to champion his music?   

EA: Bax’s Irish links are obviously of great interest to us, and it’s wonderful to play his music for audiences in Cork in particular, where he is buried and still holds a special place in the hearts of many in musical circles there. In other parts of the island where his background is perhaps less understood, we find it rewarding to draw people’s attention to his music and its Irish connections.

RA: Do you consider Bax a true Irish composer or more a well-informed sympathist?   

EA: It would be hard to argue that Bax the man was any more than a well-informed sympathist - however, it is nonetheless impressive how well-informed he became, and the passionate extent of his sympathy! In terms of his musical output alone, his evocation of ideas from Irish folk culture, mythology and general “Irishness” are in many ways more convincing and thorough in approach than those of Irish-born composers such as Harty or Stanford. I guess defining a ‘true Irish composer’ poses problems – as most of the historically prominent Irish composers could be better described as Anglo-Irish.

Ensemble Avalon
Michael McHale (piano), Ioana Petcu-Colan, (violin), Gerald Peregrine (cello).

RA:  You have scheduled an impressive festival in Wexford, Ireland in November during which you’re performing an amazingly diverse range of music including works by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Dvorak, Dohnanyi, Schumann, Bernstein, Mozart, Vaughan Williams and Bax.    How did this festival come about and how did you select the music?   

EA: The festival is being launched in association with Music for Wexford, as an extension to their annual concert series. We’ve been lucky to get additional sponsorship from the Arts Council and RTE lyric fm, who will be recording all of the concerts. The programme was built around the idea of combining famous chamber works with pieces that are not often performed, and our focus on Beethoven and Bax as ‘featured’ composers is in part to do with our CD launch.

RA:   You’ve scheduled a series of Bax songs with the tenor Ben Johnson.  One of the most common criticisms made about Bax’s songs is the complexity and density of the accompaniments.   Do you find that to be a problem when accompanying his songs?  

EA: It is an interesting challenge to ensure that the accompanimental textures don’t at times swamp the musical flow, but that’s not to say that there is not some wonderful music and piano writing in these songs – I see it very much as the performer’s problem, not the composer’s.

RA:  Can we expect more Bax performances and recordings from your Ensemble or any of you individually?  

EA: Nothing as yet is set in stone for future projects, but I’m sure we would all love to perform and record more of Bax’s music, so watch this space...