ALAN COOPER
Star rating ****
On Sunday the celebrated violinist Tasmin Little arrived in Tarland, the heart of north-east fiddle country. This was part of her current Naked Violin Tour which, she told us, has taken her to some unusual venues: factories, ships and even prisons. Her mid-afternoon concert, a joint promotion by the Tarland Welfare Trust in collaboration with the Sound Festival, was preceded by a greatly appreciated morning workshop for young local violinists.

In a sense, the concert was a continuation of that event since nearly half the time was devoted to answering questions which Little invited from members of the audience. Personally, I would have preferred more music, but there is no doubt that many folk felt they had gained a new friend.

Her opening piece, Luslawice Variations by Paul Patterson (b. 1947), a real virtuoso showpiece combining drama with a sense of fun and lots of technical bravura, easily confirmed her reputation as one of Britain's finest violinists. Before beginning, she explained and demonstrated all the technical tricks she was going to use and with that, she managed to capture the imaginations of the many youngsters in the audience.

Melodia, the third movement of Bartok's Solo Violin Sonata, was played with an eerie intensity that held us quite transfixed before she settled us back to enjoy the more familiar tones of the Gavotte from Bach's Partita No 3 in E Major BWV1006.

Just one movement from Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances - rich, lively and earthy - was followed by Tasmin's own arrangement of the Skye Boat Song and, finally, when the audience refused to let her go, a Bach Gigue served as an encore.