Sonata in A, Op 47 (Kreutzer) - Beethoven

Sonata No 3 - James Wilson

Sonata in A, Op 13 - Faure

Geraldine O'Grady and Veronica McSwiney make a most unusual duo. The violinist shows a consistent, unobtrusive, intelligent musicianship. Her playing may be small in tone, restricted in colour, not always reliable in intonation, but it's musically eventful. The pianist, by contrast, likes to underline things, sometimes seeming as liberal in rhetorical emphasis as a politician on a platform in the middle of a campaign.

The results of combining the two approaches provided scant reward in Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, which sounded to be a contest among unequal forces and surprised by its lack of unanimity in ensemble and unconvincing tempo choices.

Faure's early A major Sonata sounded best in the slow movement (the rough edges were too frequent elsewhere, even in the snappy Scherzo), but by far the best playing of the evening was reserved for the central work on the programme, James Wilson's Third Violin Sonata. This sonata was, in fact, written for Geraldine O'Grady, over a quarter of a century ago, and it still suits her to perfection. Its four-movement journey through caprice, ground bass, dialogue and song found both players attentive to its thoughtful calculations of contrast and variety, and they brought out the best in it, just as it did in them.