NCH John Field Room, Dublin THIS RECITAL marked the launch of, and consisted of music from, Thérèse Fahy's new CD of works by Michael Holohan, Fields of Blue and White. Sampling Holohan's output over more than 30 years, the CD places particular emphasis on his favourite genre, the pictorial miniature.

Its two longest tracks,

Monaincha

(2002) and

Carving the High Cross

(2006, revised 2009) were included in Fahy’s live programme, together with the three medium sized

Listoke Preludes

(2000, revised 2009) and four items of between two and three minutes’ duration.

The intuitive Irishness of Holohan’s work recalls the musical nationalism particularly of Grieg, for whom the folkloric application of cosmopolitan technique worked best on a small scale. It’s thus in the most compact sketch, rather than on a wider and more expressionistic canvas, that Holohan’s fusion of styles is at its most convincing.

By a River

(1985) generates a sense of calculated accessibility; there are pleasingly harmonic touches to

Aoise

(1988) and

Ommagio

(1996), while

Capranica

(2008), a distant nocturnal image of the Italian town, articulates itself largely without the need for cadential stereotypes.

While the twisted gothic imagery of

Monaincha

and

Carving the High Cross

retained its rough-hewn, native aspects, in

The Listoke Preludes

Fahy’s advocacy fully brought out a thoughtful counterpoint of structure and texture.