{TABLE} Unfinished Symphony ................. Schubert Symphony for organ and orchestra .... Dupre Symphony No 7 ....................... Dvorak {/TABLE} TAKUO YUASA, who conducted last night's concert in the NCH, drew a marvellous range of colour from the players of the National Symphony Orchestra. Allied to a rich and warm string tone were some exquisite wind playing and a solid contribution from the brass.
The tunes of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony are so well known that it is difficult to avoid banality: the conductor's strategy was to concentrate on the climaxes, building up a strong sense of excitement, but the energy thus expended failed to vivify the passages in between. This was a pity, for there were many moments of great delicacy and the brass section was beautifully balanced, adding power without stridency.
Dupre's Organ Symphony was a colossus that was too heavy to leave the ground. Once again, the music seemed to hold fire between climaxes and Fergal Caulfield at the organ had a part that seemed to be marking time when not reinforcing the full orchestra. There was plenty of colour in the work but a little too much noise.
The very first bars of Dvorak's Symphony No 7 established a forward impulse that lasted throughout the work. It was as if the conductor's heart was involved in a way it had not been previously and the spirit of dance gave the music a lift so that interest was evenly spread and not concentrated at the moments of culmination.
Indeed, such was the general enthusiasm that the brass, uncurbed, sounded as if they were trying to drown the others. The surge and counter surge was impressive and exciting, but there was an impression, not so much of a four movement symphony, as, of one prolonged grand finale.