Passionate, artistic, virtuosic and lyrical – the full package

Those of you who watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might have been distracted from the official proceedings by two things. One was the animated address of the Most Rev Michael Curry and the other was the performance by young cellist Sheku Kanneh-mason of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Since then Sheku has repeated this performance on numerous occasions and those expecting the same at his appearance on Sunday in Perth Concert Hall should not have been disappointed to find it wasn’t on the programme. What was there simply emphasised this young man’s amazing skill, ability and musicality, all of which are not in short supply. He’s the full package – passionate, artistic, virtuosic and lyrical with a gorgeous, rounded tone.

This concert showed that the Kanneh-mason family isn’t a onehit wonder. Siblings Isata (piano) and Braimah (violin) added to Sheku’s undoubted talents in no small way. In fact, Isata’s all-round performance – in Barber, Faire and Dvorak – almost eclipsed that of her brother. Her keyboard dexterity was as keen as Sheku’s was on the fingerboard.

This brother and sister partnership shone from the start in the Barber cello sonata. There was flamboyance from both, there was shared lyricism and a mutual and uncanny understanding of each other’s role in what was a fine work, and one that I hadn’t heard before.

Sheku and Isata were joined by Braimah for Faure’s D minor piano trio. I wasn’t disappointed with the performance, more specifically the work itself. The semi-constant unison strings didn’t help but the whole work lacked the sparkle and intensity of the Barber. However, Sunday’s performance of Dvorak’s magnificent work saw a young vibrant quintet of excellent musicians (the siblings plus Ayla Sahin and Alinka Rowe) playing their hearts out. Outstanding.