Magical music from the Tim Kliphuis Trio
On Saturday, 20th October, the Arran Music Society kicked off its new season with an electrifying performance from the Tim Kliphuis Trio. A packed audience was thrilled from the first moment by the artistry and dizzying technical skill of the three players, who ranged easily from classics to jazz, folk song to European Gypsy music. Roy Percy, the master of ‘slap’ bass and Nigel Clark, a superlatively accomplished guitarist, have played on Arran with other jazz groups several times, but in the company of the young Dutch violinist, Tim Kliphuis, they reached into a new, highly creative interpretation of every number.
Listeners were spellbound as the traditions were both respected and extended, well-loved tunes blossoming into exuberant invention. The players, using no printed music, had a magical degree of empathy between them that made it seem as though intricate arrangements had been meticulously rehearsed – but Tim brushed away the suggestion, saying simply, “We’ve played together so much, we just understand each other.” In fact, the three of them are superlative classical musicians who have stepped into the creative territory of making new discoveries, even while the old traditions are honoured and respected. The sudden emerging of the Skye Boat Song as a pure, utterly simple violin solo in the midst of complexity was deeply moving, and so, in an opposite direction, was the group’s exploring of the Pachabel Canon. The well-known ground sequence that anchors the piece provided the basis for something quite extraordinary as these consummate musicians found new implications lying hidden within it. Similarly, Winter, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, retained all its shivery classical impact though a blizzard of invention grew from it until notes were whirling like an intricate pattern of snowflakes.
The group will be touring internationally with the legendary Netherlands Chamber Orchestra in the coming season, but everyone who listened to their astonishing performance in Brodick will be hoping to see them return to Arran.
