Sonatine Martinu
Amitie - Poeme No 6 - Ysaye
Sonata for Two Violins - Prokofiev
From the Books of Hours - Philip Martin
Suite in G minor - Moszkowski
A concert for two violins and piano is unusual, and offers the hope of hearing some rare but worthwhile music. Last Thursday night's concert, given in the John Field Room by Geraldine O'Grady and Oonagh Keogh (violins) and Deborah Kelleher (piano), included one minor, delectable gem.
The concert's first half was heavy going. Martinu's Sona tine for Two Violins and Piano is assertively neo-Classical; so is Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Violins - and it is extraordinarily austere. Neither performance came to terms with these extremities, tending to a poorly co-ordinated, blow-by-blow account, especially in the Prokofiev. Even the sumptuous trio textures of Ysaye's Amitie - Poeme No. 6 were episodic and dull.
The difference in the second half was as welcome as it was striking. Philip Martin's From the Books of Hours - 10 short character-piece movements inspired by images from medieval books of hours - was commissioned by Geraldine O'Grady and Oonagh Keogh and was receiving its first performance. Its gentle harmonies and dissonance sounded more old-fashioned than the Mar tinu and Prokofiev. But the writing is idiomatic and evocative, and all three players seemed at home.
The gem was the Suite in G minor by Moszkowski, a contemporary of Elgar and Strauss, and an accomplished though limited composer. This four-movement suite is fascinating - a sophisticated, bravura piece of salon music, with all three instruments treated equally. The players obviously relished its flair, and they created the sort of alert, immediate discourse which had been missing in the first half.