Music / “The Whitworth Roach Recital”, Kirsten Williams and Marie Searles. At the Larry Sitsky Recital Room, September 30. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

“THE Whitworth Roach Recital” is a part of the Whitworth Roach Classical Music Performance Competition, which offers substantial cash prizes for a classical music recital by an ANU student.

The competition is supported by Christine Roach, with heats held this past week and the best four performing in a final concert this coming Thursday. It is not clear where the recital fits into the competition, though perhaps it is seen as a demonstration of how a classical music recital should be planned and executed.

Violinist Kirsten Williams and pianist Marie Searles presented a varied program of an hour’s music for this recital. Topped and tailed by music of the two Schumanns, the program opened with a Romance by Clara and closed with the Sonata No.1 in A minor by Robert. In between were two quite different works, neither of which would have been eligible for performance in the Whitworth Roach Competition, which proscribes music written before 1910.

The first was a new work by Australian composer Cyrus Meurant, a solo violin sonata, written for Kirsten Williams and premiered only a few months ago in Sydney. This was its second performance and a most enjoyable piece of music. Modern, yet approachable with some technically challenging sections and strong suggestions of Irish fiddle technique in repeated melodic patterns and the structure of the first and last of the four movements. The last movement especially had the feel of an Irish reel taken several steps past what a fiddler could or would do.

Meurant’s work was followed by two short works by French composer Lili Boulanger, the younger sister of noted music teacher Nadia Boulanger, but who died aged only 24 in 1918.  Both these pieces are most attractive and the Williams/ Searles duo brought them to life.

This was a recital done with a high degree of musical skill, yet kept comfortable and welcoming with enthusiastically casual and informative introductions to each work from Wiiliams. While we did hear some background to each composer and the work, it would have been interesting to hear of the thinking behind the selection and structure of the recital. This is a minor point, but I was reminded of comments made during the Miriam Allan and Erin Helyard concert a couple of weeks ago where they were quite forthright about their concert being made up of works they enjoyed performing.