MusicAlly

If you can get past the absolutely dreadful title, this album does contain some nice moments. Ertuğrul Erhan, on violin, and Meriç Dönük, on harp, explore repertoire from their native Turkey and further afield with the sensitivity of fine chamber musicians. The Turkish material is probably the best stuff on here and it is quite enchanting to hear the duo improvise together on traditional themes. Equally impressive is a song about the trials of motherhood in which the duo are joined by male and female vocalists Bora Uymaz and Merve Ceren Tağayer.

The overall timbre of this album is a little narrow, being broadened only by the occasional appearance of vocals. One of the singers, Uymaz, is also the composer and musical director of this project; which also features a homage to Antonio Vivaldi; ‘Vivaldi’ye Selam’ contains excerpts from the Four Seasons. ‘Mancini’s Thoughts’, meanwhile, riffs on the inevitable ‘Pink Panther Theme’. While Erhan and Dönük’s version of ‘Scarborough Fair’ is quite nice, the overall effect of these other covers is incongruous and borders on the bizarre.