Suite, Op 157 - Milhaud

PremiΦre Rapsodie - Debussy

Trio In D minor - FaurΘ

Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps - Messiaen

Milhaud's suite for violin, clarinet and piano is an appetising aperitif for a French-music recital. Violin and clarinet thwart each other's attempts to play a well-bred phrase, and Monday's straight- faced performance emphasised the mocking intent behind the composer's incongruities. Ib Hausmann is not a showy player, and the bravura passages for clarinet in the Debussy suffered a little in that respect, but the depth and delicacy of feeling in its meditative moments were most tenderly expressed.

FaurΘ's piano trio sounds like the work of a man to whom composing does not come easily, but this helps to give it weight. It's possible that his age - he was 78 when he wrote it - and ill-health contributed to the work's brooding atmosphere, which the instrumentalists realised with great fidelity. Cheerfulness tries to break into the final allegro vivo, but it goes against the grain, and the playing reflected this.

Inspired by the apocalypse, Messiaen's Quatuor has a mystical programme as well as a musical form. The ensemble conveyed much of the revelatory excitement but less of the religious dimension. I do not know how Messiaen expected the long final movement to be played, but present-day ears would be more likely to sense the other-worldly if the violin were to avoid vibrato, or use it more sparingly.

Repeated in Bangor, today; Armagh, tomorrow; Dublin Castle, Saturday; Castlepollard, Sunday; Castlebar, Monday