JOSEPH Tong and Waka Hasegawa played brilliantly in the Brewhouse's International Concert Series last week.

Regular performers all over the world, they showed why they have won many prestigious piano duet prizes and their visit to Taunton was a triumph.

Starting with Mozart's youthful D major Sonata (written when he was only 16) they then moved on to Schubert, a composer with whom they obviously have a great affinity.

The B minor Andantino variations were followed by a fine performance of his A Major Rondo.

The biggest work of the evening was Schubert's mighty F Minor Fantasia, and it was given an equally mighty presentation.

Time and again Tong and Hasegawa played as if they were one performer, their musical lines blending to perfection.

If I have a criticism at all, it was perhaps that in this piece they missed a few opportunities for dynamic contrast - everything seemed a little high-powered.

The highlights of the evening for me were Mendelssohn's Allegro Brillante, preceded by an only recently discovered andante prelude in the same key, and a stunning performance of Ravel's exciting and fiendishly difficult Rhapsodie Espagnole - this was full of drama and colour and was a fitting climax to the evening.

We were also treated to a lovely encore in the form of one of Dvorak's Slavonic dances.

A small audience sadly, and it was a pity the Brewhouse couldn't stretch to a few flowers on the unswept stage, or have wiped the movers' finger marks off the piano.

Harold W Mead