Yellowknife (Jan 19/07) - I should get this out of the way right now: I don't know much of anything about classical music.

I was raised on bad country-rock, listened to equally bad heavy metal all through high school, and played bass (badly) in (equally bad) punk bands through university.

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Martin Riseley plays the violin at the Classics On Stage Yellowknife (COSY) performance An Evening of Chamber Music at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre in Yellowknife. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

This has always made it difficult to review classical performers that come to Yellowknife, as I'm left struggling for praise beyond "They done played good."

Well, of course they played well, I think to myself, that's what classical performers do!

However, any performance can take things a step further. As someone famous (probably) said, it's not the notes you play, it's how you play them, something any (bad) musician can appreciate.

This was definitely the case on Saturday, as I and an intimate crowd of 100 took in violinist Martin Riseley and pianist Janet Scott-Hoyt for An Evening of Chamber Music, put on by Classics On Stage Yellowknife (COSY).

Throughout pieces by Bach, Stravinsky and Franck - followed by a hearty encore - both performers brought an intensity to their playing that has rarely been seen at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.

You could see onstage that both performers really felt the music. They swayed and jerked in time, particularly Riseley, whose energetic playing seemed to suck the energy out of his surroundings. Bows shredded apart, violins groaned in protest, and even the crowd seemed transfixed, as though they were the source of this power, and they were running low.

The true magic came towards the end of the show, as Riseley and Scott-Hoyt loosened up for a series of encores. The pieces emphasized the interplay between Riseley, Scott-Hoyt, and the audience.

Before playing a converted Romanian folk piece, Riseley described the technique required to play it, an intense staccato where the bow moves in one direction, instead of back and forth, as is normal.

"Some people can do it and some people can't and those who can't hate those who can," Riseley said with a laugh.

"I'm going to share it with you since I did all those years of struggling."

And he did, pulling oohs and ahhs from the audience, smiles from Scott-Hoyt and slack-jawed staring from a certain arts editor.