{TABLE} Brandenburg Concerto No 3 .......................... Bach The Four Seasons, Nos 1 and 4 ....................... Vivaldi Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite 3 .................... Respighi {/TABLE} LAST Tuesday's orchestral lunchtime concert at the National Concert Hall was given by the Irish Chamber Orchestra, directed by Fionnuala Hunt and Franco Gulli. It was a pity that the weakest performance was of what was probably the strongest piece on the programme, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. This had nothing to do with inequalities among the players and this in a piece which is merciless for teasing out such inequalities. The playing was just too hard driven and air less, so the discourse between players had little dynamism. Moreover, the contrasts of dynamics, especially in the first movement, seemed stuck on, with no sense of purpose.

The contrast with the performances of Concertos Nos. 1 and 4 of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons was immediate. For these concertos the ICO was joined by Franco Gulli, who directed and took the first violin part. His playing of the florid solo interventions had a spontaneity in keeping with that improvisatory feel admired by Baroque musicians and this was in spite of the fact that the performance made just a few concessions to recognised historical performance practice. The performances had an elan, from soloists and orchestra alike, which was always engaging.

The other piece in the programme was the Suite No. 3 from Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances. Here, Fionnuala Hunt's leading was much more convincing than in the Bach. The strong ensemble and rhythmic bite, which was a feature of the whole concert, was nicely combined with a highly coloured feel for the nostalgic atmosphere of these arrangements of Baroque material.