{TABLE} Concerto Grosso Op 3 No 4 ..................... Geminiani Concerto for Violin & Cello in B flat RV547 ... Vivaldi String Sonata No 1 ............................ Rossini Saxophone Concerto ............................ Dubois Apollon musagete .............................. Stravinsky {/TABLE} THE Irish Chamber Orchestra's concert at the National Gallery on Saturday night was the last of three given in Galway, Limerick and Dublin during the week. The gallery's Shaw Room has the acoustic of a large, marbled bathroom, and its excessive reverberation caused some problems. Slow music had time to bloom, but detail was washed out in passages which were both fast and loud.
Nevertheless, of the several ICO concerts I have heard recently, I found this one among the most consistently satisfying. The reasons included some beautifully coloured playing, the committed music making, a programme which included an excellent Vivaldi concerto plus Stravinsky's Appolon musagete, and the reward of seeing that the ICO is growing in confidence and identity.
Geminiani's Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 4 and Vivaldi's Concerto for Violin and Cello in B flat RV547 - where Fionnuala Hunt (director) and Richard Jenkinson took the solo parts in lively style - had great rhythmic bite. So did Rossini's youthful (he was 12) String Sonata No. 1. However, the ICO's playing of Rossini's last movement highlighted the general impression that much remains to be done in expanding the expressive possibilities of music which is lively, fast and loud. For most of the concert, these qualities seemed synonymous with gritty intensity.
Kenneth Edge was the soloist in Pierre Max Dubois's Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra. Written in 1959, this superbly crafted, lightweight concerto brims with memorable ideas. Edge's playing had the virtuosity one expects from him, and a musical bonhomie which was relished by the orchestra.
For me, however, the concert's highlight was the least demonstrative piece, Stravinsky's ballet music Appolon musagete. Here, above all, the ICO's rhythmic life and varied tone showed a creativity which seriously explored the music's expressive range.
