Hugh Lane Gallery Sunday Concert Series: Lina Andonovska + Izumi Kimura

Lina Andonovska, flutes

Izumi Kimura, piano

‘For forty uninterrupted minutes, Kimura and Andonovska engaged in a dialogue of subtly unfolding contours characterized by sotto voce whisperings, dramatic peaks, and sumptuously lyrical middle ground. For improvised music, this was remarkably melodic at its core, pockets of icy impressionism or minimalism aside. From time to time, one or the other would adopt the lead role, but for the most part the dialogue was one of contrapuntal improvisation, two voices interweaving, prodding and cajoling, locking into sync and riding the wave, then surrendering to the bravest of bare-bones exchanges.

At the extremities the music was boldy avant-garde and arrestingly beautiful. The places in between, where the duo pulled this way and that, never settling into patterns for any length of time and always asking questions, was every bit as riveting. Andonovska and Kimura are both masters at drawing myriad textures from their respective instruments— plucked, tapped and plosive sounds, percussive rhythmic pulses that all underpinned the broader narrative. Their alchemy held The Black Box audience gripped in a hushed trance until the applause erupted in a spontaneous and enthusiastic show of appreciation at the end. ‘ Ian Patterson – All About Jazz.