THE first public recital in the Carice Elgar Recital Room (in association with the County Music Library) was by pianists Duncan Honeybourne and Geoffrey Buckley, who presented duet transcriptions of some of Elgar's orchestral works, together with solo items.

The arrangement by Adolf Schmid of In the South, Op. 50 revealed the beautiful viola melody in the middle section of the keyboard with a higher placed accompaniment.

Introductions and Allegro for Strings, OP. 47, arranged by Otto Singer, imbued with Elgar's wonderful rising themes, was given an immoderate final crescendo, and sounded very rough and ready in parts.

The arrangement by Karg-Elert of the magnificent Second Symphony in E flat, Op. 63, lost many of Elgar's inspirational melodic lines and refined harmonic influences.

It was an interesting exercise to hear these infrequently played transcriptions but it proved that Elgar's awesome orchestral works are better not tampered with; his genius should be allowed to speak as he chose, not changed to a pale imitation.

Solos included an excessively rubatoed and aggressively forte Concerto Allegro, also much more sensitive and expressive readings of Presto and the minuscule Griffinesque, all played by Honeybourne.

Buckley's performances of In Smyrna and Skizze were both charming. Honeybourne and Buckley never settled into a happy duet combination; the ensemble was uneven and the playing was excessively loud for most of the time. Perhaps a closed piano lid would have been an improvement, or more consideration might have been given to an appropriate sound level for the size of the venue.

A duet arrangement of Chanson de Matin was the encore.

JILL HOPKINS