Duo (1991) - Eric Sweeney
Triorchic Blues (1990) - Gerald Barry
Epilogue (1972; rev. 1994) - Raymond Deane
Sonata for unaccompanied violin (1983) - John Buckley
Duo (1982) - Kevin O'Connell
In the Mostly Modern series at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre last week the young Belfast violinist Darragh Morgan played a selection of music by contemporary Irish composers with enviable technical ease and infectious enthusiasm. He also transcribed the flute part of Deane's Epilogue; in the new version for violin and piano this piece has an added intensity. In this, as in the pieces by Sweeney and O'Connell, he was accompanied by Robert Keeley (piano).
Intensity is not a word one would associate with Sweeney's Duo. This is, for the listener, a gentle introduction to minimalism, without harmonic or rhythmic complexity. Barry's Triorchic Blues, originally for piano but arranged for violin solo by the composer, works itself up to a pitch of frenzy, but the original version is to be preferred: it has a greater sense of fighting against the odds.
Buckley's Sonata for unaccompanied violin must be one of the best known pieces of Irish music since it is set for the Leaving Certificate course. Morgan's performance gave it a new urgency and coherence, making its preoccupation with technique less important than the sense of a musical whole.
Kevin O'Connell's Duo, though written in 1982, was receiving its first performance. The composer has consistently held to favouring form over gesture. Nevertheless, the music is exclamatory by nature, and it is the gesture rather than the form that has most impact.
