Dublin duo take the laurels

Sonata in D K381 - Mozart

Fantasy in F minor D940 - Schubert

Allegro Brillante Op 92 - Mendelssohn

Waltzes Op 39 - Brahms

Ma mere l'oye - Ravel

MacFarlane's - Dumbarton

Shenanigan - Brian Byrne

PIANO duet recitals in Dublin are rare enough that it comes as a real surprise to encounter two within eight days of each other.

Compared with the international Lefort/Bilmezi team at the NCH John Field Room last week, the Dublin brother and sister duo of Finghin and Dearbhla Collins at the RDS came away with all the laurels.

Playing together, the pair sounded generally a lot more emotionally circumspect than they do individually. The effect was positive and hand in hand with this lighter feeling went a sense of relaxation and an avoidance of technical demonstrativeness (though, oddly, too, a greater propensity to momentary slips).

The two individuals' fondness for movement at the keyboard - both are busy movers, swayers and shoulder-lifters - did not disappear and it was interesting to see the physical gestures move in an out of phase according to the distribution of responsibilities in the music.

In short, this was a genial recital, constructed on the pleasure principal, and with the rewards being equally divided between players and listeners.

The short MacFarlane's Dumbarton Shenanigan, written last year by Brian Byrne, one of the finalists in RTE's 1998 Composer of the Future Competition, is conceived in that rhythmically busy, jazz-aware style that the Labeque sisters have made so much their own. It provided a light and frothy end to an enjoyable evening.