Anne-Marie Keaney (soprano)/Deborah Kelleher (piano)

THERE was much to enjoy in the recital given last Thursday lunchtime by AnneMarie Keaney (soprano) and Deborah Kelleher (piano). However, both musicians also showed occasional limitations which sapped the stronger features of some of the music.

On the credit side was the programme - songs by Mozart and Strauss, Rodriges Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios, plus songs and folk song arrangements by Irish composers. Stylistically varied, yet cohesively grouped, it neatly filled the allocated 40 minutes.

At its best, Keaney's singing had a clear, crystalline tone - a merit which, unfortunately, highlighted her not infrequent lapses of intonation. At the top of her register, her sound tended to get hard, and lose focus in rhythm and pitch.

Strauss's Amor - a virtuoso piece needing an impeccable, coloratura type of technique - suffered accordingly. The contrast with her shapely performance of the same composer's Domeines Herzens Kronelein, which is pitched much lower, was striking.

Keaney and Kelleher were a cohesive partnership, though some of the accompaniment would have benefitted from a more sharply chiselled projection of detail.

Both musicians were on much stronger form in the four Rodrigo songs.

Another strength ran right through the recital. Rather more than most young singers, Keaney understands how to shape a song by inflecting the text, almost as if the words support the music, rather than the other way around. Her fine diction was in keeping with this, and helped create an atmosphere which held one's attention at all times.