This performance by Manchester Collective was not so much a concert as an event. Have seen them several times before at this great venue, the one thing I have learned to expect is the unexpected. It is not only the music which varies each time, but so does the line-up. Tonight it was Rakhi Singh, co-founder of the organisation, on violin and Alan Keary, bass guitar, electric guitar, violin, electronics and vocals. Never, have two people made so many varied sounds or generated so much noise – not in a bad way.
Rakhi Singh and Alan Keary
The strap line for Manchester Collective is ‘We create intimate and intense human experiences inspired by the music that we love, for everyone.’ Well, they certainly have the perfect intimate venue in Howard Assembly Room, even Ms Singh asked whether the audience was always this close to the stage – it usually is. If the whole thing sounds a bit deep, then fear not, there was more than a small injection of humour in the show, with the chemistry between the artists palpable. For once, the humour was funny and relaxed, rather than contrived to cover up nerves.
A moment of banter
The programme comprised nine pieces, ranging from traditional Bulgarian folk music, through J.S. Bach to a new piece, the LAD referred to in the title of the concert, by Julia Wolfe. Most of them were played as duets but Bach’s ‘Chaconne’ was a violin solo and Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint III. Fast, as a solo by Mr Keary on a variety of instruments and electronic gizmos (sorry to be technical there).
The music was so varied that it is difficult to categorise, something which I hate doing anyway, the only thing I can say is that in the first piece I was reminded to some extent of Tubular Bells. It was not derivative by any means, just a couple of phrases stood out.
The title piece, LAD, was originally written for nine bagpipes, one of the few instruments I cannot find it within myself to love. My favourite definition of a gentleman is someone who can play the bagpipes, but choses not to. There was none of the aforementioned pieces of apparatus used as the arrangement by Rakhi Singh who stuck to the violin, guitars and electronics. The description in the Howard Assembly Room preview described the effect as ‘a wall of sound’ but Phil Spector could not even dream of one this high and wide. The Great Wall of China can apparently be seen from space, I think that this Great Wall of Sound could probably be heard by astronauts as well. What a brilliant soundtrack to an intergalactic flight. At one point, as the crescendo built up sounding rather like an alarm, I had a flashback to the one on A Day in the Life, by the Beatles, I was expecting a deafening piano chord to bring it to a close but it just continued, finally quietening down to facilitate a more melodic ending.
The whole evening was superb, Manchester Collective once again smashing it. I am already looking forward to their next visit on Wednesday 6th, December with The End of Time.
To find out more about the Manchester Collective, please go to https://manchestercollective.co.uk/ where you will also find details of the remaining dates on the LAD tour.
To see what is coming to Howard Assembly Room go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/event-tag/har/
Featured image from Opera North. Photographs by Stan Graham
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