{TABLE} Duo Concertant ............. Stravinsky Sonata in A Op 100 ......... Brahms Theme and variations ....... Messiaen Sonata in A ................ Franck {/TABLE} THE violin and piano recital by Christian Altenburger and Melvyn Tan, given last night as part of the Limerick Music Association's 30th anniversary celebrations, was scheduled for the main auditorium of the NCH.
In the face of it low ticket sales' Field Room, a double loss, as its drawing room Steinway is no substitute for the concert grand, nor is the smaller space at all as sympathetic a place to, play in.
Altenburg and Tan (the latter a recent convert from period keyboards to the modern concert grand), offered a well thought out, intriguingly balanced programme. Both Stravinsky's Duo concertant, from the heart of his neo classical period, and Messiaen's early Theme and variations were completed in 1932; the sonatas by Brahms and Franck, both mature works, both in A, date from 1886.
Stravinsky's declared reservations about the combination of piano and strings may have something to do with the shyness of performers in programming his Duo Concertant. Altenburger's focused straightness of approach launched him well, but the lack of clarity in Tan's piano playing denied a balanced reading.
An altogether different range of balance issues were raised in the Brahms, where Tan seemed intent on a soloistic treatment of the piano writing, not by playing too loud but by constantly drawing attention to the piano at the expense of the violin.
Altenburger and Tan are both assertive personalities, the former working with a consistently rich palette of colours (tone is his metier rather than line), the latter sculpting a lot of highly individual dynamic shapes (often against the composer's explicit instructions), and forcing the music through some extremes of rubato (and creating a dangerously stop go effect in parts of the Franck).
At the end of the evening I came away with a healthy respect for both players individual resources, but was less impressed with what they had to say about the particular pieces on their chosen programme.
