Gig review: Duo Sol

Published on Friday 3 September 2010 20:37

DUO SOL **** QUEEN'S HALL, EDINBURGH

It's a pity there was such a poor turnout to this Australian violin and piano duo's predominantly contemporary music programme as there was much to enjoy and it was fascinating to hear smaller-scale works by Australian composers Ross Edwards and Matthew Hindson, who both had pieces performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra earlier in the week.

Edwards' Exile was a particularly poignant meditation on displaced peoples. The overall tonal colour was muted, with some lovely fluid piano passages set against bleak violin harmonics.

Taking inspiration from techno music and death metal, Hindson's beat-driven Little Chrissietina's Magic Fantasy was a faster and more dangerous ride than John Adams' bluegrass-infused Road Movies and it certainly sizzled more than violinist Miki Tsunoda's strait-laced interpretation of Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango.

At times she struggled to match the formidable performance of pianist Caroline Almonte, who impressed by playing more than half the pieces without music – including Beethoven's immensely challenging Kreutzer Sonata.

Like Korngold's Garden Scene from Much Ado About Nothing which preceded it, there was a lack of lyricism on the part of the violin, so that while the notes were perfectly executed, the deeper musical empathy required was not always there.