{Table} Adagio and Fugue in C minor ...................... Mozart

Guitar Concerto .................................. Jerome de Bromhead

Grosse Fuge ...................................... Beethoven

Serenade for Strings ............................. Dvorak {/Table} ONE of the problems facing the Irish Chamber Orchestra since its re establishment last year has been the limitations imposed by its small core just 13 string players. Some of the finest St ring orchestra works of the last 150 years are not really viable at this playing strength.

The addition of just three extra players for the line up on the current tour, which opened in Limerick on Wednesday, may not seem a large step, but is actually an increase of almost 25 per cent, and one which can sound like a lot more, particularly in the richness of the lower strings and the possibilities available at dynamic extremes (more solid fortissimos, more cushioned pianissimos).

The ICO's current programme (which will be repeated at the NCH on Sunday), is probably the most demanding this young orchestra has yet undertaken, and the knottiness of the first half seemed to take a toll on the orchestra it certainly did on this listener.

Andre Bernard directed performances which appealed to the ear through the quality of the string tone and the careful gauging of texture. The fluidity of his handling of rhythm didn't always make for a strong sense of direction, and the contrapuntal logic of the two big fugues was not readily to be divined from these performances.

The Guitar Concerto by Jerome de Bromhead, here receiving a belated premiere (it was completed in 1991), proved a puzzling piece. The over amplification of John Feeley's guitar may well have contributed to the feeling of disconnection between solo part and orchestra, and the lack of dynamism in the not always clean sounding string playing contributed to a feeling of amorphousness.

The success of a section setting the guitar against orchestral pizzicato would lead one to hope the overall shape of the piece will become clearer as the musicians get used to it.

It was the Dvorak String Serenade which proved the greatest success of the evening, especially in the vivacious Scherzo and busy Finale, where, with playing of disciplined brilliance, this most cheerful music took flight with truly invigorating momentum.