{TABLE} Sonata No. 2 in C (1923)......................... Delius From the Book of Longing (1996)...................Ian Wilson Arturo's Demise for solo violin (1997)............David Brophy Sonata No. 2 in A, Op. 100 (1886).................Brahms {/TABLE} ALL the works in last Sunday's recital at the Hugh Lane Gallery were presented with passionate conviction and a startling immediacy, whether they were written 100 years ago or first saw the light this year.
Delius thought the communication of emotion was the most important aspect of music and he would surely have been pleased with the vigour and the lyricism in the rich and expressive playing of Lesley Hatfield (violin) and Geoffrey Pratley (piano).
Ian Wilson's From The Book Of Longing, a sort of intellectualised tango, was as strongly lyrical as the Delius but well on the cool side of the seductive, making its point with precise rhythms and acid harmonics.
Arturo's Demise, in which the various sections were inspired by the conducting gestures of Toscanini, was unusually graphic for a piece of music; David Brophy's writing for solo violin is very skilled.
Brahms's luxurious Sonata No. 2 carried a charge of emotion equal to that of the works that preceded it.