United Kingdom Edinburgh International Festival 2024 [8]: 14.8.2024. (SRT)
Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Harry Baker (piano). Queen’s Hall.
Ilumina, Alina Ibragimova (violin), Jennifer Stumm (viola). Usher Hall
Star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a familiar face at the Edinburgh International Festival, but this is his first appearance with Harry Baker as a recital partner. Their programme showed off their strengths very well, even if its theme of pieces by composer inspired by Bach was a little loose. Which composer wasn’t influenced by Bach, after all?
Still, even if it had just been an excuse to play pieces they loved then it would have been worth it. The folk songs by Janáček, for example, miracles of communicative directness, sounded great, especially when leading into the more intensified drama of Pohádka. The jazz numbers by Bill Evans and Pat Metheny had a graceful swing to them, even though they kept very precise time, and their encore, Baker’s version of Piazzolla’s Libertango showed their virtuosity very ably, not least because Baker was generous enough to give all of the flashiest lines to the cello.
But it was in getting close to the actual Bach that the recital succeeded most. Kanneh-Mason played several movements from the first Cello Suite, sometimes deploying vibrato and sometimes not, invigorating the musical lines with a terrific sense of life. There was a luxurious quality to all of his playing with a gorgeous, mahogany richness to the sound, and an intense involvement with its production. It sometimes seemed as though he played the cello as much with his facial expressions as with his fingers! Baker was a more understated presence at the piano, but his unassuming manner offset Kanneh-Mason’s emotional directness very effectively, and when they collaborated on arranging some of Bach’s Preludes and Fugues the results were a treat, the E minor prelude sounding keening and intense, while the D-flat one was sensitive and joyous and, in that sense, very Bachian.
But fine as their partnership was, an even more involved one was showcased later that day by Ilumina. This musical collective – don’t call them an orchestra! – is at the Edinburgh International Festival for a four-concert residency, and they exemplify festival director Nicola Benedetti’s objective of making the festival both more inclusive and more diverse.
Ilumina was founded on a Brazilian coffee farm by violist Jennifer Stumm. Before the main evening concert, Stumm led an afternoon event at the Usher Hall where she introduced the musicians and spoke a bit about the group’s background. Their name comes from the Portuguese word meaning ‘to shine a light’, and that is what they hope to do on a musical culture still dominated by the norms and expectations of the northern hemisphere. Stumm speaks of her desire to build a new artistic ecosystem with community and inclusivity at its centre. Movement is at the heart of their concerts. Indeed, the musicians moved around between each piece and played each one in a different formation. Even the audience ended up doing some of their movement exercises at one stage in the afternoon event!
The point, however, is to re-think how the sound fits together and what it means. They don’t use a conductor, and they play without shoes, but these speak to a wider element of connectivity rather than serving as a gimmick. Stumm argues powerfully that inclusion isn’t just a nicety: it is essential and it creates greatness, and as part of that the group integrate traditional and popular Brazilian musical elements into their playing.
Lovely as these ideas are, they wouldn’t count for much if Ilumina didn’t make such a terrific sound. Some horns and oboes appeared for Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, but otherwise it was all strings, and the warm bath of sensuous gorgeousness that those strings produced was an indulgent delight with which to spend time. I felt like I put on weight just by listening to it! This made their Wagner (arranged by Sebastian Gürtler) sound extraordinarily rich, even without winds, and it conveyed tremendous opulence onto their playing of the different Brazilian forms. They played a piece of Lully, while walking around, alongside Brazilian popular percussive beats, and if it took me a while to warm to it then I could at least respect the point they are making by the juxtaposition. They also paired a movement from Beethoven’s Op.131 quartet with a piece of Brazilian funk, alongside some Brazilian popular Shorinho.
The weakest number was the most classical one. Their timing was all over the place in the first movement of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, with either the bass line pushing ahead too urgently, or unwanted caesuras between the soloists and the rest of the string section. Things ultimately settled, however, and the interplay between Stumm and star guest violinist Alina Ibragimova was rewardingly close, with a feeling that they were plugged into the same source.
Maybe not everything worked, but so much about Ilumina was refreshingly new and, as an ideal of cooperation, they are pretty inspiring.
Simon Thompson
The Ilumina residency lasts until Saturday 17th August. The Edinburgh International Festival runs at venues across the city until Sunday 25th August. Click here for further details.
Featured Image: Ilumina’s In the Light of Shadow at Usher Hall © Jess Shurte
14.8.2024 – Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Harry Baker (piano), Queen’s Hall.
Lianne La Havas (arr. Sheku Kanneh-Mason/Harry Baker) - Sour Flower
Trad. Czech (arr. Janáček / Harry Baker) – Nos 3, 4, 10 & 15 from Fifteen Moravian Folksongs
Janáček – Pohádka
Bill Evans – Waltz for Debby
Pat Metheny – James
Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Harry Baker – Prelude & Fugue
Laura Mvula (arr. Harry Baker) – Green Garden
Bach – Cello Suite No 1 in G, BWV 1007: I. Prelude; Piano Improvisation on Chorale: Ich Ruf Zu Dir; Cello Suite No 1 in G, BWV 1007: III. Courante, IV Sarabande
Baker (after Bach) – I Call to You
Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Brasileiras No.2: III. Dansa, IV. Toccata
Bach (arr. Baker) – Prelude & Fugue in D-flat
Piazzola (arr. Baker) – ‘Libertango’
14.8.2024 – In The Light Of The Shadow: Ilumina, Alina Ibragimova (violin), Jennifer Stumm (viola), Usher Hall.
Improvisations on Brazilian Rhythm: Capoeira, Funk Carioca & Frevo
Powell – From the Afro-Sambas: Canto de Yemanja; Canto de Ossanha
Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Brasileiras No 4: Preludio
Lully – Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs
György Kurtág – Schatten
Wagner – Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
Beethoven – String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op 131: Allegro
Mozart – Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat, K364