{TABLE} Two Melodies Op 53 ..................... Grieg Dekatriad .............................. Raymond Deane Variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky ... Arensky Andante Cantabile ...................... Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings ................... Tchaikovsky {/TABLE} THE Irish Chamber Orchestra ended last week's four concert tour at the National Concert Hall on Sunday. The all string programme, including the new, specially commissioned Dekatriad by Raymond Deane, provided the orchestra with ample opportunity to display the progress that's been made in the 15 months it's been established on a permanent footing at the University of Limerick.

The benefits of the latest increase in playing strength have already been commented on. In the acoustic of the National Concert Hall, a more musically accommodating venue than the University Concert Hall in Limerick (where I heard the orchestra last month), the extra luxuriance of string tone could be savoured all the more clearly.

The short pieces by Grieg (arrangements of two of the composer's songs), and the finely crafted, if indulgently extended, set of variations by Arensky, sounded as though they might have been written for the very purpose of showing off the accomplishments of a string orchestra. The ICO's performances, directed from the first desk by artistic director Fionnuala Hunt, were finely drawn, and particularly impressive in the soft grained textures of some of the softest passages.