Because a string quartet is at the heart of this affirmation of Martyn Bennett, Aye doesn’t always do justice to the rip-roaring dynamism that marked the career of this folk, jazz, classical and techno experimentalist. Mr McFall’s Chamber guide the evening, occasionally including relevant pieces from their own oeuvre and ushering master piper Frasier Fifield on and off stage: inevitably, they concentrate on those pieces that showcase Bennett’s compositions for strings.
Bennett was an incredibly talented musician, who could integrate highland pipes into banging techno without collapsing into gimmickry and match jazz piano to roving bass lines. Through his music for plays, classical quartets, jazz-rock freak outs and barn-raising reels, Bennett developed a fusion that was neither smug nor limp. From tonight’s selection, his genius revolved around taking classical instrumentation and enthusing it with the passion of hard-drinking folk or the celebratory escapism of the dance-floor. His ‘Piece for Quartet, Percussion and Pipes’ is a masterful exposition: an atmospheric introduction gradually moving towards a driven, ecstatic violin and pipe rock-out.
The format stressed Bennett as composer. This is a concert, and not a gig. It does expose Bennett’s weakness as a composer- he never really got the drums right, as they often sound like a token add-on, the rock beat limping behind the circling violins or triumphant pipes. But when McFall’s get going, they suddenly capture the impossible combination of improvisation and precisely disciplined classicism- and the early death of Bennett is not just a personal tragedy but a terrible loss for imaginative composition.