Sleater-Kinney at Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin and Ryan, RTÉCO/Wagner at the NCH, Dublin are reviewed.

Sleater-Kinney at Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin

When Sleater-Kinney take to the stage of Dublin's Temple Bar Music centre for their first Irish show, the roars of the crowd are enthusiastic. They have been waiting a long time for this. It has been 10 years since the release of the Olympia trio's self-titled debut, which is more than enough time to build up an Irish fanbase. Expectations are high.

Luckily, the band don't disappoint. Corin Tucker's angelic shriek is as thrilling as ever. Janet Weiss is astounding, pounding away on her drums with ferocious precision. But Carrie Brownstein is the star. On record she can be overshadowed by Tucker's more striking voice, but on stage she is mesmerising. Strutting about shaking her pageboy bob out of her eyes, doing scissor kicks, holding her guitar aloft, even dancing, Brownstein owns the stage. She is one of the most charismatic performers I have ever seen.

But although the performances are inspired, it's not a perfect gig. Of course, they're promoting a new album, and an excellent album at that. But even so, the set is a little too heavy on the new material, especially considering the fact that the audience have been waiting to see the band perform for a very long time. Is it too much to ask that they play more than about six songs that are older than a year?

Perhaps they don't think their older music reached our little island - towards the end of the set Brownstein tentatively asks "did our early records make it over here?"

The cheer gives her the answer - and gives the audience a few more classics. Anna Carey

Ryan, RTÉCO/Wagner at the NCH Dublin

Ali-Baba Overture - Cherublini. Ah! Douce enfant - Massenet. Sul fil d'un soffio etesio - Verdi. Flight of the Bumble Bee - Rimsky-Korsakov. Cinderella Suite No 2 (exc) - Prokofiev. Air de feu. La princesse - Ravel. Berceuse and Finale (Firebird Suite) - Stravinsky

It is likely that only two works on this programme, the last in this year's lunchtime orchestral series, were familiar to almost all the audience. Because of the mix of composers and styles, and the wide range of unfamiliar music, this was an always-interesting concert.

It was also wide-ranging in the quality of the performances.

Unforced precision has become a hallmark of Laurent Wagner's work as the RTÉ Concert Orchestra's principal conductor. Paradoxically, this strength tends to show up moments when things slip. Ragged playing in the strings niggled at the ear for much of Cherubini's Ali-Baba Overture and in parts of Sul fil d'un soffio etesio from Verdi's Falstaff. Intonation in the woodwinds was sometimes wobbly, especially in the quieter of the four movements from Prokofiev's Cinderella Suite No 2.

But there was a lot of characterful playing that was focused in expression and that communicated partly because it was so committed. This was especially evident in the last two excerpts from the Prokofiev and in some accompaniments to operatic excerpts.

Soprano Rebecca Ryan was brave to avoid crowd-pleasers. She presented four excerpts that require strong dramatic instinct, and whose greatest demands tended to lie in their subtlety.

Rebecca Ryan's voice was always good to listen to; and although there was little variety of colour, her musicality held one's attention.

Her sensitive flexibility and ability to easily reach the highest soprano register were compelling. For someone still in the early stages of a professional career, this was an auspicious demonstration of musical intelligence. Martin Adams