Simple Symphony - Britten
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C - Mozart
Concerto No 2 in D - Mozart
Serenade for Strings - Tchaikovsky
It is almost exactly a year since James Galway last performed in Belfast, in one of the first concerts given in the Waterfront Hall. On that occasion he played and conducted the same Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto, with the same harpist, Marisa Robles, with whom he has recorded the work four times, and followed it with the same encore (Brian Boru's March), prefaced, if I'm not mistaken, with the same jokes.
This occasion was different, partly because Ms Robles was unable to bring her cherished harp and had to perform on an unfamiliar instrument - although it did not seem to affect her playing, which was, if anything, more rich-toned than last year.
The main difference, however, lay with the playing of the Polish Chamber Orchestra. Certainly, in terms of ensemble and articulation, this is an expert band, and one could admire their crisp, incisive playing even of accompanying figures. Time and again hitherto unnoticed detail was given new sparkle and life.
Galway may not be the conductor for the slow third movement of the Britten, or its equivalent in the Tchaikovsky, and he drove the music hard in the faster movements, but in the final movement of the Tchaikovsky and in the last movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 29, played as an encore, the orchestra seemed to thrive on the challenge.