{TABLE} Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott BWV651.................. Bach An Wasserflussen Babylon BWV653..........................Bach Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr BWV664....................Bach Jesus Christus unser Heiland BWV665......................Bach Variations op 34.........................................Hesse Prelude and Fugue in D minor 0p 37 No 3..................Mendelssohn Toccata and Fugue in F BWV540........................... Bach {/TABLE} ANNE Leahy's organ playing last Sunday night at St Michael's Church, Dun Laoghaire, was well below the best I have heard from this musician. The recital included a nice touch in the opening group of four large chorale preludes by Bach. Each prelude was preceded by the appropriate melody in one of Bach's own harmonisations, sung by a vocal quartet.

One of these preludes, the trio on Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr BWV664, typified the problems which bedevilled the recital. Anne Leahy's frequent technical slips, and her tendency to point up detail, produced a rather laboured rhythmic style which did nothing for a piece Which needs to be rattled off, lightly or dashingly.

The last piece in the recital was Bach's Toccata and Fugue in F BWV540, which began well but lost rhythmic drive, partly because of over-pointed breaks at intermediate closes and, in the fugue, some exaggerated highlighting of entries. It was frustrating to hear so many opportunities missed in this extraordinarily dramatic music.

The best performances of the evening were of the fugue from Mendelssohn's Prelude and Fugue in D minor Op. 37 No. 3 solid and majestic - and of Bach's prelude on An Wasserflussen Babylon BWV653. Here Anne Leahy let the music flow naturally and securely.