Elizabeth Cooney (violin),

Gerald Peregrine (cello)

& Deborah Kelleher (piano)

John Field Room, NCH, Dublin

Cello Sonata In G Minor Op 5 No 2-Beethoven

Violin Sonata No 3-Grieg

Duo-Martinu

Sonata In G-BrΘval

Passacaglia-Handel/Halvorsen

Monday's recital was to have included the premiere of a duo by Grβinne Mulvey. That premiere has been postponed, and in its place was an innocuous violin and cello sonata from the pen of the French classical composer Jean-Baptiste BrΘval.

Cooney and Peregrine, heard separately in sonatas with piano and together in three duos, make a highly contrasted musical pairing. Peregrine is an effortful performer, anxiously endeavouring to put a highly personal mark on the music. Although the intentions seem fairly clear, the results are less so.

There's often a feeling of indistinctness about his playing, of shapes not quite formed, notes not quite articulated. This may be partly due to a certain boominess in his instrument, but many phrases unaffected by boom were oddly hazy in outline, as if the performer's inner thought hadn't fully imposed itself on the final musical expression.

Cooney, by contrast, is tight and linear, and always firm in projection. In the duos it was her playing that most frequently drew the attention, not by means of volume or any form of grandstanding, but simply by its focus and presence. She didn't, however, give the impression of being an accommodating player. Her mode was clear but had the air of being on a non-negotiable rhythmic trajectory. Be that as it may, her direct manner, driven with youthful urgency yet nicely turned, was the major pleasure of the evening.