Tcha Limberger & His Budapest Gypsy Orchestra @ Sage Gateshead. October 2

Tcha Limberger (violin & vocals), Feher Istvan (cimbalom), Lukás Csaba (clarinet), Olah Norbert (brac), Ruszo Istvan (violin) & Vilmos Csikos (double bass)

(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Peter Ninnim).

Manouche multi-instrumentalist Tcha Limberger grew up on Django. At six he began to play guitar, he has long since attained virtuoso status. At a comparatively late age (all of seventeen) he decided to learn to play the violin. In next to no time Limberger was more than proficient, in fact, a virtuoso.

Tcha Limberger arrived at Sage Gateshead to fulfill the final date on a nationwide tour. A receptive Sage Two audience greeted the Belgian and his Budapest Gypsy Orchestra with enthusiasm. Some had heard Limberger on a previous visit, others were new to his music. The evening began with one noticeable absentee – the indisposed cellist Szegfu Károly – as the band elected to perform as a sextet.

Sage Two’s exceptional acoustics didn’t escape the ear of Limberger and the band played entirely without amplification (Vilmos Csikos’ double bass included) and no requirement for a PA system. The engaging Limberger spoke in impeccable English, his voice clearly heard throughout the hall, and sang in, no doubt, perfect Hungarian. A clever man is Tcha Limberger!             

Hungarian musicians advised Limberger that he would never be able to fully appreciate a music alien to him, a language he didn’t speak. Undeterred, our violin virtuoso decided to learn the language! On stage at Sage Gateshead, the Belgian-born musician led his Gypsy Orchestra as a fully paid up member of Budapest’s music fraternity. A master violinist, a tenor voice of unbridled passion, Limberger’s assimilation of the nuances of a nineteenth-century musical form, hitherto a foreign culture to him, impressed not only the Gateshead audience, but also his Hungarian comrades. Song titles weren’t announced; Limberger’s assertion that all of them were about universal themes – love, heartbreak etc – met with a collective nod of approval. Spectacular cadenzas, effortless, swashbuckling solos, Tcha Limberger had it all.

Standing in front of Feher Istvan’s cimbalom, our Manouche bandleader turned variously left to invite the seated clarinet master Lukás Csaba to rise and unleash unbelievable solo contributions, the speed of which defied eyes and ears; then to Feher to breeze across the many hundreds of strings of the cimbalom. Csaba elicited the cry: Bravo! Feher received thunderous applause. Dazzling and dizzying, each and every number captivated those in attendance. Limberger drew our attention to the work of Olah Norbert. Sitting to Tcha’s right, the role of the brac instrument, we learned, is central to the music. Continuously in action, the viola, as known to Western audiences, took on a new dimension! Double bass player Vilmos Csikos deployed unamplified, lower register bowing throughout. This was a Sage Gateshead master class from all concerned. The virtuoso sextet deservedly won an encore. Until next time…                                 

Russell.