{TABLE} The Soldier's Tale, Suite for violin, clarinet and piano ...... Stravinsky Piano Trio in B flat, Op 11 ................................... Beethoven Contrasts for violin, clarinet and piano ...................... Bartok Trio in A minor, Op. 114 for piano, clarinet and cello ........ Brahms {/TABLE} IN the second concert of John Finucane's series sampling the clarinet repertoire the theme, as well as the title of one of the works, was contrasts. Piano and clarinet appeared in all four works, but the cello used in the Beethoven and the Brahms gave its place to the violin in the twentieth century works by Stravinsky and Bartok.

Perhaps it was the old world atmosphere of the Great Hall Kilmainham that favoured the earlier works; the players last Sunday, John Finucane (clarinet), Finghin Collins (piano), Aisling Drury Byrne (cello) and Michael d'Arcy (violin), were at their most persuasive in the ample melodies of the earlier masters. No energy was spared in the effort to convey brusque vitality of Stravinsky's arrangement of his own The Soldier's Tale but the end result was curiously underpowered. Similarly Bartok's Contrasts lacked that feeling of a basic inspiration that makes the various elements cohere.

Beethoven's early Trio for clarinet, cello and piano and Brahms's Trio Op. 114 both contrast the cool tones of the clarinet with the warmth of the cello, and it was in these works, particularly the Brahms that the players seemed to be carried along by the music rather than to be carrying it along.