Mrs. Lynne Williams and Mr. Rob Rainford, the Dunelm Duo, gave Christ Church a diverse coating of jazzy colours with their ample musical selection, which, though it did include baroque exponent Bach, leaned towards more modern composers.
Mrs. Williams brought a flute and both an alto and a soprano sax, and while she was with the flute one of the songs she played particularly stood out to me: the second movement (andante) of Eugénie Rocherolle’s «Sonata for Flute and Piano» or, «Sonata Nº.1», a piece that I found to be intricate, delicate and elegant. I’m listening to more of Mrs. Rocherolle’s repertoire as I’m writing this, and so far I can confirm that –in the pieces I've listened to– these traits are not particular to this one song, but common in all her compositions.
Playing solo, Mr. Rainford gave us «Sonatina» (opus 100), composed by Nikolai Kapustin, a simple yet beautiful melange of Joseph Haydn and J.C. Higginbotham. I don’t know if Christ Church’s Yamaha was tuned or cleaned recently, but I’ve never heard it sounding better.
Other pieces that stood out to me were an arrangement of Keri Degg’s «Celtic V», and «Crazy Rag» by Jean Matitia (Christian Lauba)– and not only due to the very colourful story conveyed by Mr. Rainford; it’s already grand that we get to appreciate these amazing musicians at Christ Church, but when they are generous enough to give explanations and anecdotes, the experience soars to new levels. The Dunelm Duo has palpable chemistry and charisma, and is it not great to enjoy not only the pentagrams, but the personalities behind them?