Friday, March 10, 2006

Natalie MacMaster

After her first three rousing, fiddle-driven tunes Wednesday night at the Birchmere, Natalie MacMaster confessed to the audience that she hadn't heard a note that she had just played, due to a faulty ear monitor.

She laughed off this potentially debilitating setback, beaming with confidence as if she were excited to face the additional challenge.

That eager energy saturated MacMaster's entire performance, which consisted of mostly traditional instrumental Celtic and bluegrass songs from her home of Cape Breton Island, Canada. She bounced and danced as she played, as if performing the Riverdance without missing a note on her fiddle.

MacMaster's athleticism continued with a drum-accompanied tap dance that she incorporated into several other numbers as well.

Her two hour-long sets weren't always so showy, though. She often stepped back to showcase her band mates, as on the jazzy "Autumn Leaves" (sung by bassist John Chiasson). The typically tiresome "Danny Boy" received a fresh treatment from guitarist Brad Davidge, and a super-speedy bagpipe solo performed by Matt MacIsaac showed the instrument's versatility beyond the hackneyed dirge. Although two hours of such instrumental music could potentially grow tedious, MacMaster's boundless enthusiasm made the evening fly by.

-- Catherine P. Lewis

The days of straining to hear an unamplified classical guitar in the recital hall are clearly behind us. Even in the intimate setting of the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater on Wednesday night, Sharon Isbin plugged into a speaker and conjured a guitar sound that was considerably larger than life.

Given that Isbin was sharing the bill with seasoned mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, the amplification probably wasn't a bad thing. Mentzer -- whose vibrant voice features glinting top notes and a darkly expressive chest register -- sang with full, operatic tone all evening, giving Isbin's instrument a run for its money. But if Mentzer's large-scale approach somewhat overwhelmed a set of 18th-century French folk songs, it paid dividends in three swaggering tonadillas by Granados. Most moving were five American folk songs, delivered with telling attention to the words and a deep, but understated, vein of melancholy.

Isbin was in generally fine form in the program's solo items. A fine technician and sensitive interpreter, she played Albeniz's "Asturias" with fluency and a mesmerizing tension held just under the surface of the music (though Tarrega's "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" hit a few unexpected bumps in execution). Her obvious affection for John Duarte's "Joan Baez Suite," however, couldn't quite compensate for the ever-uncomfortable practice of "classicalizing" pop music. Do we really need to hear "House of the Rising Sun" dressed up like some bonbon by Joaquin Rodrigo?

-- Joe Banno

The Cloud Room's lead singer, a gracious fellow who simply goes by J., declared Wednesday to be "Brooklyn Day in D.C." While borough mates and current indie darlings Clap Your Hands Say Yeah played a sold-out show at the 9:30 club, the Cloud Room's inspired if somewhat derivative performance before a crowd of not even 100 people at the Black Cat gave hints that those roles may soon be reversed.

The Cloud Room is clearly influenced by many of the same acts as the rest of its new-wave-revival brethren, but the quintet also has apparent arena-rock ambitions. J. used his guitar mostly as an adornment, as he often wailed while clutching the microphone like Coldplay's Chris Martin. Songs such as "Devoured in Peace" and "Beautiful Mess" floated along innocuously until they reached rousing choruses showcasing J.'s soaring vocals. Although most songs followed this same formula, they were salvaged by J.'s magnetic personality and captivating voice.

The night's standout was "Hey Now Now," a could-have-been smash from last year's debut album. The galloping drums, chiming guitars and mindlessly catchy lyrics ("Hey now now/We're going down down/And we ride the bus there/And pay the bus fare") proved irresistible and encouraged the first movements of the night from what had been a calm, polite crowd.

The 45-minute set ended with the slightly funky "Blue Jean," a special request from the group's "youngest fan in the world," a 5-year-old girl who was there with her parents. A couple of band members even came out to talk to her after the show. She may have been tired at school the next day, but she had quite the story for her classmates -- one that will only grow in stature if the Cloud Room's appeal matches its aspirations.

-- David Malitz