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OTTAWA
SUN
© All Rights Reserved
Tuesday
20th September 2005
Irish Tenors deliver sentimental
triumph
By DENIS ARMSTRONG
As a veteran of many Irish concerts,
I can tell you that last night's Irish Tenors performance is one you can't take
lightly. In the wrong hands, traditional Irish melodies such as Danny Boy or I'll
Take you Home Again Kathleen will send you off either retchingor laughing hysterically,
while this host of feel-good spirituals can only make a mockery of all religion.
But with the right voices, sober and sincere, this stuff can be heartbreaking,
sending you for the Kleenex.
Which was mostly the case with The Irish
Tenors -- two genuine Irishmen, Finbar Wright and Anthony Kearns, and one Scot,
Toronto's John McDermott, who performed last night at the Corel Centre in front
of 2,500.
They're one of the more successful trios of the 'three opera
singers" touring these days, having sold more than 2 million recordings of old
parlour songs, hymns and spirituals and even a couple rebels numbers. They're
so popular their ads boast that they're the biggest-selling Irish band, next to
U2.
Of course, that claim is more funny than accurate. These boys are
more John MacCormick than Bono. But it does show you that they've got the cajones
to go up against the best. Yup, these three penguins are the real thing.
Brazenly,
the boys delivered a sentimental concert of 28 songs of orchestrated love songs
and old ballads that the elderly audience seemed to enjoy. It was so quiet, it
was hard to tell.
Dressed in black tie, Kearns, Wright and McDermott stood
at the front of the stage with their arms folded behind their backs like impatient
maitre d's while the 20-piece orchestra opened their set with Brian Boru's March.
Then the three men joined forces on The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls, Only
Our Rivers Run Free, Lord of the Dance and Amazing Grace.
McDermott was
the most comfortable of the three, teasing the fans about returning to the tenors
after leaving them in 2000. His singing was just as relaxed, his polished tenor
voice shining lightly in the waltz Believe Me and How Deep the Father's Love,
while Wright's buttery, more-rounded voice suited Forty Shades of Green to a tee.
But it was Kearns -- the former priest (sic), no less -- who to my ears
had the sweetest voice that carried well on the spiritual If I Can Help Somebody.
Unfortunately, the second half of their performance started awfully as
the boys began plugging Sacred, their latest recording of pseudo-liturgical songs,
proving that their Druid anthems Deus Meus, Hail Glorious St. Patrick and My Forever
Friend are just as bad performed live as they sound in digital stereo.
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