Irish Times writers review ICO/Mariana Sirbu at IMMA, the Athem Brass Quintet at the NCH John Field Room and the Vindobona Trio at the Hugh Lane Gallery.

ICO/MARIANA SIRBU (VIOLIN), IMMA, DUBLIN

It's a funny old world. Mariana Sirbu, known mostly to Irish audiences as the leader of the RTÉ Academica String Quartet in the 1970s and 1980s, is back in town as principal guest director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the biographical note in the ICO's printed programme for Sunday afternoon's concert at IMMA makes not a single mention of the violinist's years at RTÉ.

Sirbu is now best known for her work as leader and soloist with the long-established Italian ensemble, I Musici. Her style in baroque music is mostly forward and robust, fully of the I Musici mould, employing elements of an expressive manner that has been all but abandoned by most of the period-instruments ensembles working in the field of baroque music. It's a style that's full of vibrant life, more extrovert than reflective, and as a soloist, Sirbu, who was ably partnered by Katherine Hunka in the Double Violin Concerto by Vivaldi, showed herself to be fearless in the face of the exposed demands the "red priest" makes on his violinists.

Arvo Pärt's Fratres exists in a dizzying number of arrangements. The one heard on Sunday was not the more familiar calm one for strings and percussion, but one which integrates bursts of florid figuration for solo violin, as the haunting patterns work through their course. The ending, with degrees of softness explored again and again, consistently beyond expectations, showed what a fine moulder of orchestral string tone Sirbu has become.

The String Sonata No. 1 by the 12-year-old Rossini was offered in romanticised gestures, an intriguing contrast to the finely-etched classicism that Stefan Vladar adopted with the same players in another of these sonatas just a month ago. The two Dvorák Waltzes are sweet nothings, the loving care with which they were prepared on this occasion giving them, temporarily, as much an appearance of substance as candy floss. The closing Romanian Folk Dances by Bartók were rounded off with boisterous abandon.

Michael Dervan

ATHEM BRASS QUINTET, NCH JOHN FIELD ROOM, DUBLIN

Belgian composer, Francois-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829), wrote his Tambourin for flute and keyboard in which form it would be a pleasant trifle, but it hardly carries the weight of two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba, and as an introduction to Athem's recital of 20th century music, it seemed an odd choice.

Last Friday's lunchtime recital didn't take fire till Koetsier's Brass Quintet, which unleashed the excitement of an old-time fairground. It exploited the brassiness of the instruments but chose not to bring out their lyrical side.

There was more variety of approach in Ewazen's colourful Colchester Fantasy, in which each movement is named after an Inn, beginning with The Rose and Crown. The music moves from the fairground by unexpected ways in the direction of jazz, in the direction more clearly marked in Lennie Niehaus's Sinfonietta. Niehaus wrote the scores for some of the Clint Eastwood movies, but this Quintet, played with great sympathy and enthusiasm by Athem, is interesting in its own right. The players take naturally to the jazz idiom, as they proved in the final item, an entertaining arrangement of That's a Plenty.

Douglas Sealy

VINDOBONA TRIO, HUGH LANE GALLERY, DUBLIN

was born in 1796, 37 years before Brahms, so he can be regarded as a predecessor of the latter. It is unlikely that he influenced him, but they shared a musical language. The performances by the Vindobona Trio on Sunday certainly highlighted the resemblances between the two composers, but Brahms is more inventive, both in his material and in his use of it. So while Berwald can seem overlong, Brahms skilfully keeps the listener alert. The recital was not a competition, but it was wise to put Berwald first, for despite the whole-hearted advocacy of the Vindobona Trio in D minor, it was hard to retain it in the mind after the Brahms.

Brahms's Trio in C was not well received on its first performance because it was a happy work and Brahms was not expected to be happy. It may be a happy work, but one would be reluctant to call it light-hearted. The players were not in the least heavy handed, but Eyal Kless (violin), Schwarz-Schulz (cello) and Réamonn Keary (piano) could not lighten the texture and remain faithful to the score. The finale came across, certainly, as a joyful burst of energy, rather as if a heavily built man was unexpectedly winning a race.

Douglas Sealy