{TABLE} Serenade for Strings .......... Elgar Cello Concerto in C ........... Haydn, Symphony No 44 (Trauer) ....... Haydn Romanian Dances ............... Bartok {/TABLE} ELGAR'S Serenade for strings is one of those quintessential string pieces which can work well for small or large forces. Hearing it played by the 15 strings of the European Union Chamber Orchestra at the NCH last night was a pleasure; for the performance had a chamber music style which was unfailingly alert to textural subtlety. Throughout the concert which was the annual gala for the Friends of the NCH, and also celebrated Ireland's Presidency of the European Union - the orchestra was directed from the first violin desk by Luigi Filippi.

This was normal practice until the advent of the conductor, an essential figure when orchestras enlarged during the 19th century. Hearing the EUCO play Haydn's Symphony No. 44 (the Trauer), with the leaders of each section and the wind players looking alertly at the leader, suggested that Haydn's orchestra at the Esterhazy court must have had some of the immediacy which was so pleasing in this concert.

It was, however, unusual to hear the string version of Bartok's Romanian Dances directed in this way. Luigi Filippi played the violin solos superbly, and the performance was full of character, even though it did not always have the finesse of balance which was such a feature of the other pieces.

Emma Jane Murphy was the soloist for Haydn's Cello Concerto in C. This is not among the most virtuosic of concertos, the dash of the last movement notwithstanding; but it's Classical textures are notoriously unforgiving. It was compelling to see and hear the way soloist and orchestra were involved with each other. For Murphy, purely musical values came far above displays of self. She played as if she was the first amongst equals ana that indeed is how the concerto was designed.