Benjamin Dwyer (guitar) John Field Room

{TABLE} Farewell Finland ............................ tepan Rak Song for Her ................................ Benjamin Dwyer Usher Waltz ................................. Nikita Koshkin Improvisation (exc) ......................... Kenneth Edge Electric Counterpoint ....................... Steve Reich {/TABLE} THIS year's Dublin Guitar Week is the most ambitious yet, with 15 concerts in 10 days, given by players from seven European countries. So it seemed appropriate that it should begin on an adventurous note, with one of several programmes devoted to 20th century music.

On Friday at lunchtime, in the John Field Room of the National Concert Hall, Benjamin Dwyer played five pieces written within the last 10 years or so. Farewell Finland, by the Czech composer Stepan Rak, is an exploration of variations on a Finnish folk song. Its approach to variation techniques is discursive, and the result seemed overlong. However, this impression was somewhat ameliorated by the artistry and confident technique of Dwyer's playing. Throughout the concert, clear textures and strong shaping overrode blemishes of detail. So, Nikita Koshkin's demanding Usher Waltz, which I last heard played by the great Vladimir Mikulka, had the essential frenetic zest.

The concert included two recent Irish works, Dwyer's own Song for Her short and simple, and much more conservative than some of his music and, one piece, from Kenneth Edge improvisation. The latter, written to accompany dance, has the guitarist improvising around a prerecorded tape of somewhat oily, American style mood music. Like much music for theatre, it is probably more effective in its original context than in concert.

The recital ended with Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint, also for tape and guitar. The tape is dominated by guitar sonorities, so the relationship with the soloist is much less tense than in New York Counterpoint for tape and clarinet. Whatever about minimalist compositional techniques the sharp focus of Reich ideas and his purposeful execution, make this music linger in the memory long after the concert.