Partita in E, BWV1006 - Bach
Duo for violin and cello - Martinu
Embers - Raymond Deane
Danse sacre et danse profane - Debussy
Yesterday's lunchtime concert in the John Field Room of the NCH was frustrating for the disparities between the six players. Violinist David O'Doherty and harpist Geraldine O'Doherty are brother and sister and have been studying, respectively, in Lausanne and London. In this concert they played solo and ensemble works in conjunction with the Dublin-based Absolute Ensemble - Anne Marie Twomey (violin), Elizabeth Csibi (viola), Moya O'Grady (cello) and Helen Morgan (double bass).
David O'Doherty was the only performer to participate in all four items on the programme, and his playing was this concert's only consistently strong aspect. In Bach's Partita in E, BWV1006, for solo violin, rhythm was usually lively and was firmly rooted in the music's dance origins; part writing was clear, and each movement had a defined character.
Everything else in the concert was marred by limitations of ensemble work. Martinu's Duo for Violin and Cello thrives on severe tension between the instruments. David O'Doherty suggested possibilities, but these were not realised by Moya O'Grady's unfocused cello playing.
Geraldine O'Doherty was persuasive in the demanding harp part of Debussy's Danse sacre et danse profane. But doing this piece with solo strings - it was originally scored for full string orchestra - requires far more of each string player than was delivered on this occasion.
The concert's best ensemble performance was of Raymond Deane's Embers, which was helped along by secure playing in the ever-prominent first violin part.