Barry Douglas and Camerata Ireland Orchestra bring down curtain on Clandeboye Festival

The festival also marked the beginning of Camerata Ireland’s 25th year celebration of its establishment.

The theme of the festival was ‘Music Without Borders’, and Camerata Ireland crossed borders itself when it was formed in 1998 to mark the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The objective then was to form a cross-border ensemble to play one concert at Parliament Buildings in Stormont and the other in St Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle.

However, since then it has gone from strength to strength and it has carved out for itself a high reputation locally and internationally for its musicality, under the inspiration of its founder and director Barry Douglas who won worldwide acclaim as a classical pianist after winning the prestigious Gold Medal in the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1986.

The special rapport between Douglas and the ensemble was clearly evident on Saturday, and particularly in their performance of Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto which Barry directed from the keyboard.

This is a brilliant concerto which classical-music lovers, including this reviewer, have heard so many times but it had a particular freshness in this memorable performance.

The beautiful but confined space of the Clandeboye Banqueting Hall, and the relatively smallish ensemble combined to give the performance an authenticity reminiscent of the early days of Beethoven himself when his music was first played to audiences and surroundings vastly different to those in today’s spectacular concert halls.

Perhaps the only difference on Saturday was the use of modern instruments compared to those of Beethoven’s day, but as Barry noted afterwards to this reviewer, the composer himself would have relished the power and range of the Steinway on which his 5th Piano Concerto was played.

The same special atmosphere was evident on Saturday in the performances of Grieg’s Holberg Suite and Mozart’s Symphony No 29, both of which demonstrated the orchestra’s range and versatility.

Under Douglas’s direction it sounded as if the music was being played for the very first time. Such fresh authenticity is rare enough in today’s concert halls.

Throughout the coming season there will many celebrations of Camerata’s 25th anniversary year, with visits to Japan and New York, where they will play in the Carnegie Hall.

Enormous respect is due to Barry Douglas, who carries his immense talents modestly and lightly, in providing a showcase for young talented musicians from Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, and also continuing to sustain the Clandeboye Festival as one of the most important series of concerts and recitals in the local musical calendar each year.