{TABLE} Danzas Argentinas ................................................ Ginastera Cinco Piezas de Plata Augustin Fernandez Ferramenta (tango) ....... Nazareth Coracao que sente (valsa) ......................................... Nazareth Odeon (tango brasiliero) .......................................... Nazareth Sonata No 1 ....................................................... Ginastera {/TABLE} LATIN Keys was the title of yesterday's lunchtime concert in the Bank of Ireland "Mostly Modern" series. At the bank's arts centre in Foster Place, Dublin, Louise Thomas played music by three South American composers who were deeply influenced by indigenous idioms. Such music needs rhythmic vitality and vivid characterisation. That was what we got.
The most recent music was Cinco Piezas de Plata by Augustin Fernandez, who is best known in Ireland for having been composer resident at Queen's University Belfast in the early 1990s. Each piece takes a distinctive idea and translates it into a less than radical, late 20th century idiom. The result is five short character pieces, well crafted, but merely decorative.
Two tangos and a waltz by Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934) were only a little more impressive. Their main interest lies in their chimeric amalgamation of Chopin-esque figuration and Brazilian rhythms.
The most substantial pieces on the programme were Danzas Argentinas and Sonata No. 1, by the more famous Brazilian, Ginastera (1916-83). As so often with this composer, unremittingly dense textures and overloaded harmony make for rather colourless music, with energy residing primarily in forceful rhythmic patterns.
I wondered whether Louise Thomas's rather percussive style of playing was too unrelenting, for Ginastera can be played in ways less hectic, yet no less muscular.
Nevertheless, the elan with which she rattled off the virtuous textures was thrilling as was her enormous dynamic range. It was a concert in which the strength of the performances was more gripping than the music.
