Sonata in D minor, Op 108 - Brahms
Tzigane - Ravel
Cinema Fantasy - Milhaud
Caprice viennois - Kreisler
Liebesfreud - Kreisler
Schon Rosmarin - Kreisler
Danse espagnole - Kreisler
The playing and personality of Eyal Kless seemed intertwined last night at the National Concert Hall's John Field Room. This was the 27-year-old Israeli violinist's first recital in Ireland since he became a teacher at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He and the RIAM's director, John O'Conor (piano), presented a programme chosen, Kless said, to represent various sides of himself.
The result was immensely enjoyable. The playing was not always consistent in technical polish, but it was full of character, was often witty, and it made each piece utterly distinctive.
Ravel's Tzigane represented Kless's angry side. The astonishingly urgent performance was aptly capped by a broken string in the final pizzicato chord.
The quirkiness of Milhaud's Cinema Fantasy was also played to the hilt. Kless revelled in this music's calculated waywardness - its juxtapositions of material, harmony, speed and character; and he relished the way it pillages the cliches of violin virtuosity. Here and in the Ravel, the attempt to squeeze out the last drop of intensity sometimes produced vagaries of intonation and tone.
Four pieces by Kreisler, chosen to reflect Kless's Viennese training, saw plenty of that warm, cantabile sound this music needs. However, here and elsewhere in the recital, expressive scope seemed limited rather than helped by a vibrato which was consistently fast and strong.
Brahms is this musician's favourite composer, and the concert began with the Sonata in D minor, Op. 108. Alert to detail, attentive in discourse with piano - a strong feature of this recital - and impeccable in its rhapsodic motion towards the tempestuous finale, this was a rewarding performance, which saw some superb piano playing from John O'Conor.
