VoxCarnyx

Perth Concert Hall

On stage, if not in their publicity shots, new duo Luban are a sartorially mismatched couple: guitarist Sean Shibe has a fondness for dressing up and violinist Aidan O’Rourke resolutely dresses down. Musically, on the other hand, they are explorers with shared inclinations, digging in the archives of Scotland’s musical past but equally at home with modern and contemporary composition.

That hinterland is what this partnership is all about, and how they played it in the second half of this concert made for a singular experience. Theatrically entering from different sides of the platform for their interpretation of Laurence Crane’s Sparling, composed for clarinettist Andrew Sparling in 1992, the pair delved into the works of John Dowland and Hildegard of Bingen (in a new arrangement made for them by Tom Coult) as well as early Scottish music they have unearthed, before tackling John Cage’s “Melodies” and ending on a tune of O’Rourke’s.

With Shibe having switched from lute to electric guitar for much of this, after the briefest of pauses for applause, they plunged back into the 16^th and 17^th century musical library before pivoting back to Cage, explaining precisely none of the selections along the way.

That absence of much in the way of announcements, and of programme notes, was clearly all part of the package, and not just a ruse to encourage enquiry, and perhaps purchases, at their CD stall afterwards. The fluid passage of these players through 600 years of composition was the clearest demonstration of the universality and timelessness of music. One tune may well be reaching ears for the first time since it was played in the 1600s.

In fairness, they had prepared their listeners well for the kaleidoscopic repertoire. Beginning with solo sets, O’Rourke opened in Victorian Scotland and a tune by James Scott Skinner and his mentor Peter Milne, and, by way of an Irish jig, wound up at one of his own tunes, I Met Him Only Once. It was the first of three welcome returns to short compositions O’Rourke wrote for his tune-a-day 365 project with keyboard-player Kit Downes, inspired by James Robertson’s daily short stories of a decade ago.

Shibe’s solo introduction was through lute songs from the Rowallen and Straloch manuscripts, paving the way for O’Rourke to return to the stage for duets probably intended for a consort of instruments, including a Purcell-like Pavane.

With O’Rourke’s The Room is in Darkness – a favourite from his 365 – rounding things off, that brisk half-hour set up the more experimental approach after the interval. The whole evening did not outstay its welcome, and suggested much more to come from this new collaboration.

Keith Bruce