Rhapsody No 6.............................. Stanford Symphonic Picture................. Gershwin/Robert world)........................ DvorakTHE San Jose Symphony I, Youth Orchestra's concert, at the National Concert Hall last night was replete with metaphors for our times. To reflect Irish-American connections, the orchestra's European tour had visited Cork, Listowel and Tralee before coming to Dublin, with which San Jose has special civic relations.appearance, shows the vibrant mix of cultures - predominantly from the Americas, Europe and the Pacific Rim - in that powerhouse of the present and future.

The SJYO is among the most accomplished regional youth orchestras I have heard. The players have an immediate rapport with their conductor, Israeli- born Yair Samet, and he has the knack of placing a disciplined yet free rein on their youthful vigour. The playing had a rhythmic focus and subtlety of balance which was a credit to all concerned.

The 18-year-old Russian violinist Roman Goronok gave a vibrant account of the solo part in Stanford's Irish Rhapsody No. 6 and led the orchestra in Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 (New World). However, I must admit that when listening to his and Samet's hard-driven account of the Stanford, and to Samet's gradual accelerandos and curious pacing in Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave, I felt the same mix of incomprehension and admiration I experience when hearing my teenage children play techno and dance music.

In Dvorak's "New World" Symphony the SJYO was at its best - muscular and shapely, and full of that untarnished youthful energy which over-rides technical limitations. In the Souza march, which was one of their encores, tbey added all that to a quintessentially American pzazz.