Manto And Madrigals

Thomas Zehetmair (violin), Ruth Killius (viola) ECM New Series 4763827****

The microtonally embellished drones of Giacinto Scelsi’s 1957 Manto involve just one instrument, the viola, the second line being sung, or, rather, incanted by the performer herself (it has to be a she). Heinz Holliger’s 2006

Three Sketches

fly all over the place in a gauze of harmonics, have a chase at close quarters, and end up with a ghostly sextet, two parts from each instrument, and an almost disembodied voice from each player.

Nikos Skalkottas’s 1938

Duo

is harsh, compact, meaty. Bohuslav Martinu’s 1947

Madrigals

pursue an altogether more conciliatory form of dialogue. There’s also a brief clever early 1902 Duo by Bartók (just one line of music, played forwards as well as backwards and upside down), short, folk-permeated pieces by Rainer Killius (

Ó min flaskan frida

) and Peter Maxwell Davies (

Midhouse Air

), and a playful

Encore

by Johannes Nied. See url.ie/7ebo