Exploring Illumina; In the Light of Shadow

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 14/8/24, 2 pm & 8 pm

Illumina, Alina Ibragimova (violin), Jennifer Stumm (viola), Edmundo Carneiro (percussion)

The residency of São Paulo-based artist collective Illumina at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival opened with a double-bill at the Usher Hall on Wednesday 14th August.  A short mid-afternoon performance, billed as ‘Exploring Illumina’ afforded the audience an opportunity to experience the ensemble’s vitality and dynamism and gain an insight into their philosophy, while relaxed on unassigned beanbag “seating”. The performers explored movement and rhythm with music that effectively previewed most of the eclectic pot-pourri of popular Brazilian, Afro-samba and classical that was the first half of the evening performance.  These pieces were interspersed with insightful statements by founder, leader and mentor of the collective, the Atlanta-born violist Jennifer Stumm, on the dynamic of the collective and its philosophy of music making, as well as introductory comments from some of the other players  For the second half of the night-time programme, ‘In the Light of Shadow’, the ensemble was joined by two oboists and two hornists, plus the guest solo violinist Alina Ibragimova, in a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante K364 with Jennifer Stumm as solo violist, flanked by two more Brazilian pieces.

Apart from two percussionists (led by virtuoso Edmundo Carneiro), the all-string ensemble comprised 8 of each violin line, 6 violists (including Jennifer Stumm), 6 cellists and 2 bassists.  The performers were casually dressed in the afternoon and more formally at night, though still very brightly coloured.  All perform barefoot, originally (Jennifer Stumm revealed) to minimise the sounds of movement interfering with the music, but also now because they prefer feeling grounded in the space which they endeavour to fully occupy – in this case the dapple-lit front of the Stalls of the Usher Hall.  As well as the beanbag-filled Stalls, some seating at the front of the stage and the front of the Grand Circle were open to the public.  Illumina (Portuguese for ‘Shine a Light’) seek to see the richness in the environment and express it, rather than impose their will on it.  They eschew the concept of ‘maestro’; rather, each is aware of their own and each other’s individual rhythm and talents and they unite to make music.  Inclusion is central to the dynamic of the collective and they eschew the exclusivity of the ethos, programming and performance practices associated with the historic classical music scene of the northern hemisphere.  “Great music is great music”.

The night programme opened, as had the afternoon, with the ‘Preludio’ from Villa-Lobos’ ‘Bachianas Brasileiras No 4’, setting a wistful melancholic mood in late romantic vein with very rich string polyphony and displaying an attractive ensemble sound from the off.  An improvisation on the Afro-Brazilian Capoeira rhythm, a martial art that has become a dance form, which became quite bluesy towards the end, segued into Lully’s ‘Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs’, French Baroque thrillingly spiced with percussion.  In the afternoon performance, two young men of the collective had actually danced an athletic Capoeira.  It featured the berimbau, an Angolan-Brazilian instrument, a stretched string in a bow arc mounted on a gourd resonator, struck as a percussion instrument, played by Edmundo Carneiro.  Kurtág’s miniature ‘Schatten’, a brief growling dialogue between the two double-basses, segued into a string and light percussion arrangement of Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell’s (de Aquino) piece, ‘Canto de Yemanja’ from his Afro Sambas: attractive modal melodies and string polyphony suggestive of Vaughan Williams were a surprise.  Absent from the afternoon programme, a revelatory string arrangement of Wagner’s Prelude to ‘Tristan and Isolde’ was as spellbinding as it was heartrending, with phenomenal dynamic range and expressive emotional intensity. Quite extraordinary and unforgettable. Another percussion improvisation, this time to a Brazilian Funk Carioca rhythm, segued directly into a ‘straight’ arrangement of the finale of Beethoven’s Op.131 String Quartet in C# minor, as expressive and captivating as the Wagner. 

The second half opened with a final percussion improvisation, on the Brazilian Frevo rhythm.  Music stands, absent from the first half, had appeared during the interval and the players used a mixture of tablets and sheet music and did not move around as they had in the first half.  I have long loved the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante, first from the 60s Menuhin/Barshai recording (no longer praised by anyone) and I still have fond memories of my first live hearing in the St Francis Xavier Hall in Dublin in an RTESO studio concert about 1970, with leader of the Allegri String Quartet Hugh Maguire and his brother Charlie as soloists.  Memories of the fraternal love that emanated from that performance were resurrected by the exquisite mutually responsive playing of Alina Ibragimova and Jennifer Stumm, not least in the achingly beautiful slow movement, expressing mutual solace over a shared woe.  The shared joy of the outer movements was magnified by a sense of community and chamber playing, enhanced by fresh lively dynamics, teasing rallentandi and, something I always love to see, the soloists joining in the tutti.  An excellent performance.  As she was not the originally advertised guest soloist, I derive more than a little pleasure from revealing that Alina Ibragimova, a graduate of the Menuhin School, with her ‘sister’-in-music Jennifer Stumm and supported by a vibrant youth ensemble from the Global South, delivered a performance significantly and radiantly superior to the once-revered Menuhin recording.  How does one follow that?  One final Powell Afro Samba, ‘Canto de Ossanha’, bluesy with syncopations, set a carnival atmosphere to conclude the afternoon programme.  Except for the encore, which (for both performances) comprised a solo violin improvised cadenza segueing into a lively rendition of the first movement of Mozart’s ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’ (sans exposition repeat).  Super.

Ensemble musicians moving about while they play is perhaps not new to Scottish audiences: the Scottish Ensemble do this regularly now, for example.  But there is more to the Illumina vibe.  Firstly, the players circulate so that different players occupy the ‘front’ of a section in the different pieces, and violinists change between firsts and seconds.  Secondly and, for me at least, more significantly, they often turn and make eye contact with each other in pairs and small groups, forming little ‘chamber cells’.  I am certain that this can not only be seen, but heard as a rich, vibrant chamber sound.  It is pretty special.  The Illumina Residency continues until the 17th.  Highly recommended.