Review

Concerts in the West: Oliver Wass and Luba Tunnicliffe

THIS unique combination of harp and viola worked wonders.

In the many combinations of musical line and accompaniment, the novelty of the sounds for the majority of pieces were successful arrangements.

We heard movements from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, and Tchaikovsky’s Mélodie, originally for violin and piano.

There were solos too, including Luba’s stylish performance of four movements from Bach’s great Partita in D minor, and Oliver’s of his own explosive transcription of Ravel’s evocative piano piece Jeux d’eau.

The duo’s interpretation of Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae for viola solo and piano and later for strings, here transcribed for harp, emphasised the dark harmonies the composer evoked in a set of variations on a song by Dowland. While the work failed to move some of the audience, for others it left a profound effect.

The final work was two movements from Arnold Bax’s Fantasy Sonata for viola and harp, written for and inspired by the virtuoso harpist Maria Korchinska in 1927.

Oliver and Luba reflected their close understanding of each other, as musicians and personally.

The attentive audience was then rewarded with the Swan from Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals as their encore.

Anthony Pither