BACHUÉ
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL HARP FESTIVAL
*****
The artists collectively known as Bachué have varied in number over the group's ten year history, but it's core has always comprised Corrina Hewat & David Milligan, better known as the joint leaders of folk mega-band the Unusual Suspects. It was this distilled duo version which opened the 24th Edinburgh International Harp Festival at the weekend, their musical focus tightened yet further by Hewat's decision to give her voice a night off, zooming in squarely on the instrumental pairing of her electrified clarsach and Milligan's piano.

The cross-fertilisation between Hewat and Milligan's shared jazz training and their love of Scottish tradition has been a strikingly fruitful one from the start. A decade down the line, though, their range of expression and depth of technical assurance have expanded tremendously, cemented by the fine-tuned rapport between their minds and hands. Sometimes the result was glorious cascades of sound, replete with melody and colour, powered by both players' dazzlingly nimble finger work and liberal deployment of their instruments' big bass end. Elsewhere, spaciously measured mood-pieces made subtler but no less teling use of the rich dynamic palette at their disposal.

Sue Wilson