Orion Duo

louth | arts and media | news report Sunday November 14, 2004 20:40 by Sean Crudden sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

Recital at Holy Trinity Centre

The recital in Holy Trinity Church by the duo was satisfying and persuasive - but was witnessed by too few people.

King John's Castle, Carlingford, on Poppy Day

Christopher Blake (piano) and Ruth Bebb (viola and violin) call themselves "Orion Duo." Both English, living in Belfast and members of the Ulster Orchestra, they have been playing together for five years.

Their recital at Holy Trinity Heritage Centre featured the following program:

Dvorak: Sonatina op. 100 for violin and piano
Dvorak: 4 Romantic Pieces op. 75
Brahms: Scherzo for violin and piano

INTERVAL

Brahms: Sonata for viola and piano op. 120 no.2

The encore was a piece by Schumann for piano and viola.

The music was linked together by spoken dialogue and description of the composers and some of the events of their lives. They were very together in this effort (which is a novel feature of a recital like this) and the male and female voices complimented each other nicely and made an appealing sound.

In their playing they were quite successful advocates of the music of these three composers and the idiom of character of each of the composers was represented quite comprehensively. The final notes of many of the movements demonstrated a high degree of unanimity and timing.

For me the really killer music was the sweet melancholy of the Schumann piece which was richly rendered. The first of the "Romantic Pieces" caught my attention in a big way and I will be searching the piece out on c.d. to renew the piece and keep it in my memory. Brahms always satisfies the appetite and the piano sounded full and tuneful throughout in this music. We all know that the viola is somewhere between the violins and the cellos in the orchestra but the educated performance by Ruth Bebb hammered home the smoky individuality of the instrument.

Is there a lesson to be learned from the fact that we heard two English musicians interpreting the music of two great 19th century German composers in Carlingford on Poppy Day 2004?

Holy Trinity Church, Carlingford.

Chris Blake and Ruth Bebb with (seated) Michael Harris-Barke, Chairman of Carlingford Heritage Trust.