Sinfonia Concertante - Haydn
Symphony of Psalms - Stravinsky
Piano Concerto No 2 - Brahms
If there has been any complacency within the music department at RTE about the National Symphony Orchestra - which has a conducting strength unrivalled since the mid-1980s and management reform underway - it must have been exploded by the experience of last night's concert.
Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello, oboe and bassoon was given with principal players from within the orchestra as soloists (Alan Smale, Aisling Drury Byrne, Matthew Manning and Michael Jones).
The musical approach adopted by principal conductor Alexander Anissimov had little of the internal clarity that this music needs. The violin tone exhibited mass rather than sharp focus.
There was but little air in the textures, and not much spring in the rhythm. Some nice turns of phrase from the soloists were not sufficient to tilt the balance towards a musically satisfying outcome.
It is good to see RTE willing to field its Philharmonic Choir in one of the major choral works of the 20th century, but dispiriting to find what should be the best choral and orchestral forces in the country experiencing so many difficulties in simply placing the notes accurately in pitch and in time in Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.
Of course there were moments which came off well, but the sense of strain, particularly in the fugal second movement, made a greater impression.
Another performance in a year or two would offer a good yardstick of progress achieved.
The best orchestral playing of the evening came in Brahms's Second Piano Concerto, the lines taut and finely-spun, the momentum solid, the pacing of climaxes rewardingly firm.
The same could not be said for the solo playing of John O'Conor, which made many departures from Brahms's text and side-stepped the weightiness which so frequently characterises this music.
Yet, with real sureness of purpose informing the orchestral playing, the moments which did gell communicated with a truly Brahmsian quality which was lacking from the last hearing of this piece here two years ago.
