Adagio for Strings - Barber

Serenade for Strings Op 48 - Tchaikovsky

Symphony No 40 - Mozart

Piano Concerto No 2 - Beethoven

Barber's Adagio for Strings and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings can quickly reveal the qualities of an orchestra. At the National Concert Hall on Tuesday night, Camerata Ireland had everything needed to do justice to these classic string works. The players included many of the best Irish orchestral musicians from north, south and abroad, and there was a strong sense of communal involvement from them and from the conductor, Barry Douglas.

The Barber opened with a softly rich sound and a rounded attack, and moved ever-forward in long phrases. The Tchaikovsky's opening - Andante non troppo - was wellpaced and pointed towards the following Allegro, as it should. Orchestral balance was impeccable, and the rhythmic animation of the playing meant that there was never a dull moment. In Mozart's Symphony No 40 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 2, the wind playing had equivalent strengths, and strings and wind worked well together.

Given the sumptuous sound and everything else going for Camerata Ireland, it seemed odd that the performances were not more moving. This was partly because Barry Douglas tended to work at the extreme ends of the possibilities offered by each piece. In the Tchaikovsky, for example, passionate playing lost much of its impact because there was nothing with which to contrast it. The rhythm needed to relax occasionally, and let the melodic lines breathe. The Beethoven concerto rightly came across as the work of a young lion (the composer was 25 when he wrote it), but the roar was a little too persistent.

Yet this was an impressive concert, fully appreciated by the enthusiastic but disappointingly small audience.