{TABLE} Francesca da Rimini ..................... Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto ......................... Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Suite ......................... Tchaikovsky Marche Slave ............................ Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture ........................... Tchaikovsky {/TABLE} FRIDAY NIGHT at the Bank of Ireland RTE Proms was Tchaikovsky night and an authentically Russian night it proved.

In the RDS Main Hall, the National Symphony Orchestra was conducted by the Russian, Vladimir Altschuler, and in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto the soloist was Kazakhstan born Marat Bisengaliev, who is trained firmly in the Russian tradition.

Altschuler has worked with the NSO on a number of occasions and the memorable musical results of this concert were the hallmark of a confident partnership. This was underlined by the security of the NSO's playing in music which is almost too familiar, but which was directed in ways very different from those adopted by most western conductors.

Altschuler took a very flexible approach to tempo very Russian Sometimes speeds seemed dangerously and thrillingly slow, as in parts of the suite from Swan Lake and in the opening of the Marche Slav, for example and, in the latter, speeds were whipped up towards climactic moments.

Such techniques can produce flashy but disjointed results. Not so on this occasion, where everything was purposeful. The techniques made the most of Tchaikovsky's extraordinary contrasts but even in such sectional works as the Marche Slav and the 1812 Overmre there was a wholeness which few western conductors an produce.

In the Violin Concerto, Marat Bisengaliev vaulted over the many technical demands. In some respects, he made it seem all too easy but his shapely and immaculately toned playing had plenty of rewards. So did the NSO's paying, which throughout the concert, and especially in the Symphonic Fantasia Francesca da Rimini, was beautifully coloured and balanced.