Irons and Houstoun

Press, 15 October 1986, Page 8

Irons and Houstoun

Deidre Irons and Michael Houstoun, duo pianists, for the Music Federation of New Zealand, Town Hall Auditorium Tuesday, October 14, 8 p.m. Review by Nan Anderson.

It is many years since Christchurch heard duo pianists of the formidable calibre of Deidre Irons and Michael Houstoun.

Right from the noble opening of the Myra Hess arrangement of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” it was obvious that this would be no ordinary piano recital. A programme that was a model of balanced planning, awesome technical facility that inspired total confidence, and integrity of performance that eschewed attention seeking flamboyance were the characteristics of this highly impressive combination.

Apart from an unrewarding flow movement, there was much to appeal in their sparkling account of Mozart’s Sonata in D, K 448. In amateur hands it might be dismissed as entertaining but superficial drawing room music.

These artists made it clear to what extent Mozart was ' developing the two-piano mediupi to limits not known hitherto — the interplay of equal parts, the feeling for sonority, the exploration of the registers of each piano. Rachmaninov’s second suite is a work of substance, its four movements forming a sonatalike entity. The pianists extracted every ounce of brilliance from the outer movements, a march-like Introduction and a dazzling Tarantella.

At times one had the sensation of pianos struggling to become orchestras by some Monty Pythonesque transmogrification. Only in the opening of the Romance was expectation disappointed, it sounded rather more matter-of-fact than warmly romantic.

The duo made Debussy’s “En Blanc et Noir” a thought-provoking work, far removed from the usual Debussy imagery of moonlight, gollywogs, or sunken catherdrals. The patriotism in the second movement

comes through sounds of battle, bugle calls, and ironic fragments of the Lutheran hymn, “Ein Feste Burg.”

The Music Federation must be warmly commended for its commissioning policies. Kenneth Young’s “Fantasy” made a favourable impression showing as it did a keen feeling for piano sonority, especially in forte passages. Lutoslawski’s “Variations on a Theme of Paganini” made an intriguing change from the Brahms and Rachmaninov versions and provided a stunning conclusion to the programme.

I hope these artists will tour again, perhaps with the original two-piano version of Brahms “Variations on the St Antoni Chorale.” But the Music Federation must wonder what else it must do to attract audiences when two reputations of international repute are insufficient to fill even the Gallery of the Town Hall, let alone the seeming cost-effectiveness for patrons of “two for the price of one.”