Dance review: Mr McFall’s Chamber: Viva Tango! Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh

GREYFRIARS Kirk has witnessed some landmark events in the course of its 400-year history, but as violinist Robert McFall - co-founder of alt-classical ensemble Mr McFall’s Chamber - observed, this was the first time it had ever hosted a tango evening.

McFall’s have had a penchant for Argentina’s national dance music since their earliest days, particularly via the compositions of Astor Piazzola. Their six-piece line-up, also featuring Brian Schiele on viola, cellist Su-a Lee, double bassist Rick Standley, pianist Phil Alexander and percussionist Iain Sandilands, were joined for the occasion by Edinburgh-based Chilean vocalist Valentina Montoya Martinez - a regular guest of the group since the 1990s, here performing her ardently soulful original songs - and two top tango instrumentalists, Cyril Garac on violin and Victor Villena on bandoneón.

Appealing as the incongruity between Scottish Presbyterianism and smouldering Latin passions seemed, however, the venue proved less than ideal. The combination of its soaring, echo-laden acoustics and long, narrow layout, plus rather inadequate amplification, meant that for anyone seated more than half-way back – a sizeable proportion of a sizeable turnout, especially with a dancefloor left at the front – the sound throughout was frustratingly distant and tinny. Slower, more sparsely appointed passages fared better, but in the faster, fierier, full-ensemble numbers, pretty much all the finer points were fuzzily indistinct, and this was both a band and a musical form where the finer points – of melody, dynamics, arrangements and individual prowess – were pretty much central to the experience.

Rating: ****

SUE WILSON