The Proms are familiar to concertgoers in Cardiff via a bootleg Welsh version, yet the official BBC Proms have never graced the Welsh capital in all their decades of performing. Until now, with the debut of the Carion Wind Quintet, a Danish-Latvian assortment of musicians, at the Royal Welsh College.
This quintet have a USP that most musicians should envy. The addition of theatre elements break down the static feel most concerts face (impressively, they all played from memory). Their opening with Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles demonstrated their bouncy vitality, the tricks and naughtiness of the music paired with good comic timing and agile blocking. A rambunctious mask is worn throughout these strange little treats, with an irony dripping in the air.
Carl Nielsen’s Wind Quintet, Op.43 had less of these dramatical angles, though some amusing moments linger. This piece is typical of what you’d expect from a wind quintet, though with the inspiration of Mozart comes fresh and bold music pushing boundaries though still in a plane of tonality. Some sincere moments are met with unexpectedly jolting blasts, and the finale chorale wrapped things up in a touchingly intimate way.
The quintet would end the programme with Stravinsky’s Suite No. 2, arranged by their very own French horn player David M.A.P. Palmquist. Originally written for piano, these spiffy movements have those fumes the composer is famous for as if the notes of different instruments are curdling. The circus and the fairground are burned into our brains and it’s a nonstop, delightful tour.
As ever, Carion amuse with their choreography, though the Gallop at the end could have seen a fair bit more leg work in action. Two encores offered – the Waltz from Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No 2 and Papageno’s Aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute (the latter just for the audience, not being aired on the radio broadcast) – left this audience very pleased and hungry for more official Proms in Cardiff.
Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff, Mon 15 Aug
Listen back to this concert on BBC Sounds till 10 Oct 2022
words JAMES ELLIS