Boots & All: A folk-inspired journey around the world

To encourage the toe-tapping that usually goes along with folk music, Ensemble Q called their latest gig Boots & All, and attired themselves in lumberjack shirts, village green frocks, lederhosen, and stomping boots! And it was a pleasure to see musicians at the top of their game, taking obvious delight in presenting some old and new works to spotlight the folk tradition that has imbued many a composition – classical and modern.

And so, to start, a gorgeously haunting contemporary piece by Scottish composer, Stuart MacRae – ‘Chaidh mo Dhonnachadh ‘na bheinn’ – sung in Scottish Gaelic by Lotte Betts-Dean, who has only just landed in Brisbane after a tour of the UK. Lotte’s crystal bell-like tones are an enticing mix of angelic and melancholic, and just right for folk-infused tales that evoke verdant settings (as evidenced by her collaboration with MacRae on the album ‘Earth, They Cold is Keen’). Music for this Scottish piece was played by Trish Dean (cello), and Adam Chalabi (violin).

For Carl Nielsen’s ‘Serenade in Vain’, Trish was joined by Paul Dean (clarinet), Phoebe Russell (double bass), David Mitchell (bassoon) and Nicholas Mooney (horn) – a fun piece about musicians vying for attention of the same love interest before packing up their instruments and stamping home through the village streets. Paul introduced the next piece by his friend, Perth-based composer, James Ledger – although he joked that the effort required for his clarinet parts could stretch the friendship! Fortunately for us, Paul, Trish and Adam, joined by Anne Horton (violin) and Christopher Moore (viola), committed to the complexities of ‘Rashomon Confessions’ which Ledger based on the film by Akira Kurosawa. What an amazing piece! The difficult, overlapping time signatures only added to the filmic tension. What a find! Then it was back to the troll-filled woods, but for new works ‘About the Ash Lad’ by another contemporary Australian composer, Melbourne-based Melody Eötvös, based on Dano-Norwegian fairytales, including ‘Boots and the Troll’. Another gem uncovered by Ensemble Q, which allowed for the addition of Alison Mitchell’s melodic flute.

After an interval, the stage was reset with stereo kits of percussion, stationed by Queensland Symphony Orchestra alum, Jacob Enoka, and Ella Hicks (Queensland Youth Symphony and percussion mentorship post), with Emily Granger’s wonderous harp centre stage. The musicians were re-joined by Lotte for an international collection of more than 10 pieces in Luciano Berios’s ‘Folk Songs’.

The journey continued with ‘Bagatelles’ by Antonin Dvorak, a series of five filmic pieces, arranged by Trish Dean for septet, including a string quartets of cello, violin, viola, and double bass, with the clarinet, bassoon and horn taking over from the harmonium that the piece was originally written for. Trish has treated us all by enlivening these gorgeous tunes that transport us to the Czech composer’s Bohemian setting. Paul introduced the pieces, and his enthusiastic “I can’t wait to play them for you!” is characteristic of this group’s passion for playing, and the energetic interactions between players. They ended their inspiring and uplifting set with another modern piece, ‘Lullaby & Doina’ by Argentine composer, Osvaldo Golijov, which blends traditional Yiddish music with gypsy jazz tones, and (to my mind) evokes theatrical works by Ketelbey and Gershwin – another cinematic scene (the music featured in Sally Potter’s film, The Man Who Cried) to end a fascinating trip around the world in folk, played to perfection by the talented Ensemble Q troupe.

Catch Ensemble Q on tour with William Barton: ensembleqaustralia.com
Or on QPAC’s Digital Stage: digitalstage.qpac.com.au/products/ensemble-q-bundle

See Lotte Betts-Dean at the Brisbane Music Festival: brismusicfestival.com

Beth Keehn

Photographer: Darren Thomas