Full House

national | arts and media | news report Saturday November 20, 2004 16:14 by Sean Crudden Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

Start of RTE National Symphony Orchestra/ The Irish Times Tour

A full house heard this program of very popular pieces which sounded fresh, new and free from cliche. There were many new faces in evidence around the National Concert Hall for this performance and, judging by last night's experience, audiences around the country are in for a very pleasant musical treat.

"Breathing in I calm my body
Breathing out I smile
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment."

There were many wonderful moments in a tuneful "Divertimento" by Stravinsky at the start of this concert and in a lively and free-flowing performance of "The Italian Symphony" (Symphony No 4, by Mendelssohn) at the end.

The soloist in the concerto (Violin Concerto No 3, K.216, by Mozart) was Fionnuala Hunt. She was dressed in a firecracker red, fairly low-cut, strapped, long, sheath dress. It featured a lace inset containing a pattern of (ersatz) diamonds above the cleavage. This motif was repeated at the back. From where I was sitting I could not see how she was shod.

Although she had music at her disposal to kill by I though her performance was a little anticlimactic.

The conductor Gerhard Markson showed a deft touch with the "large" orchestra and elicited many nice turns of phrase from different components of the orchestra at frequent and successive stages. Perhaps it is merely idiosyncratic judgement on my part but I felt (particularly in the first half of the concert) that while he regularly extracted the glory of the moment there was something lacking in regard to an overarching feeling for the progress of the music - "where it was going" in other words.

The leader of the orchestra, Alan Smale, was steady, punctilious and nicely assertive and, in my humble opinion, his contribution was an object lesson in what the leader of an orchestra should contribute.

The atmosphere around the concert hall was buoyant and efficient (even the drinks at the interval were well managed) and I think no-one in the large audience (including many schoolboys) went away disappointed.

The National Symphony Orchestra brings this program on a tour to Mullingar, Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford on 21,23,24,25,26 November (respectively).