{TABLE} Zampa Overture .................... Herold Manon Lescaut Intermezzo .......... Puccini Serenade melancholique ............ Tchaikovsky ValseScherzo ..................... Tchaikovsky Beatrix Potter Suite (excs) ....... John Lanchberry Irish Suite ....................... O Cearbhail {/TABLE} SOLID playing and bad programming were the enduing impressions left by the lunchtime orchestral concert at the NCH last Tuesday. The better points of the National Symphony Orchestra's performances included neat, though not very ample, shaping and good balance. However, impact was limited by weaknesses in pacing. Conductor Fergus O'Carroll tended not to drive towards a clear goal and to mistime crucial breaks. So, while Herold's Zampa Overture and the Intermezzo from Puccini's Manon Lescaut had their really good moments, they were rather bitty.
Natural musicianship and clean tone made Nicky Sweeney's violin solos in Tchaikovsky's Serenade met ancholique and ValseScherzo always pleasant to listen to. Yet she, too, tended to shape locally, without a clear projection of middle, beginning and end; so the returns of the principal themes were not the main events they should be.
The problem with the pro gram me was the absence of a substantial piece. I can understand the inclusion of Irish Suite by Fintan O Cearbhaill, the conductor's father and a main figure in Waterford's musical life until his death in 1981. Written in the 1950s, it is a piece of its time - themes from traditional music are given straightforward orchestral dress and are well judged for their contrasts as they are juxtaposed and combined. But why did we have the music from the film and ballet The Tales of Beatrix Potter? It is so derivative - by John Lanchberry out of Delibes and early Bartok - that it barely qualifies as concert music.