Founded by pianist
Barry Douglas to celebrate, in words, "the wealth of Irish musical talent," the
Camerata Ireland is a robust, raw-toned, big-hearted chamber orchestra. On its debut disc under
Douglas, the
Camerata is as adept at following
Douglas' direction as
Douglas is at directing from the keyboard. With a strong tone and a powerful attack, plus a propulsive sense of rhythm, the group faithfully accompanies
Douglas in these small-scale but still grandly romantic interpretations of
Beethoven's Second and Fourth piano concertos. A grandly romantic pianist himself,
Douglas delivers hugely conceived and flamboyantly executed performances. Because all the musical direction is coming from
Douglas, these are inevitably highly individualistic performances with distinctively inflected phrasing and shaped structures, performances that make
Beethoven sound less like the post-Classical successor of
Mozart than the early Romantic contemporary of Weber and Hummel. While these should not be the only performances of
Beethoven's Second and Fourth piano concertos one hears, they are nevertheless interesting additions to the discography. Satrinio's recording made in Dublin in June 2005 puts the performance 15 feet in front of the listener in an empty medium-sized hall. It is altogether uncanny.