Sonata for Flute and Guitar - Edison Denisov
Toward the Sea - Takemitsu
Sonata for Flute and Guitar - Benjamin Dwyer
Flute and guitar make a combination which is ideal in many ways. But only in the last 50 years or so has this combination attracted significant attention.
The three works on the programme played at lunchtime last Thursday by Susan Doyle (flute) and Benjamin Dwyer (guitar) left behind them the domestic, mild ly diverting character of this combination's historical repertoire.
Edison Denisov's Sonata for Flute and Guitar, written in 1977 when the composer was 48, makes an irreverent backwards nod, with two of the three movements gradually fragmenting the standard melody-plus-accompaniment texture until it becomes much more tense than was suggested by the opening.
Takemitsu's Toward the Sea manages to be deeply evocative without resorting to platitudes. And it was refreshing to hear Benjamin Dwyer's Sonata for Flute and Guitar (1994/5) cock a snook at the guitar's usually subservient role.
The Bank of Ireland Arts Centre was packed for this concert, given as part of the Bank of Ireland Mostly Modern series and Dublin Guitar Week. I found Benjamin Dwyer a little too much in the background for a lot of the Denisov and Takemitsu, but he showed plenty of panache in his own piece.
Susan Doyle was always persuasive, with an ability to inflect pitch, rhythm and tone in ways which made every event count.
These were effective performances from musicians who showed many of the better qualities one looks for in duo playing.
The DIT/Bank of Ireland Mostly Modern Festival runs daily from Thursday March 8th to Sunday March 11th in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place. Admission is free. For details, phone: 01 821 6620.
Dublin Guitar Week continues until Saturday March 3rd. To book, phone: 01 668 2024.