NSO/John Finucane

{TABLE} Hansel and Gretel Overture ................ Humperdinck In the Steppes of Central Asia ............ Borodin Piano Concerto No 1 ....................... Prokfiev Youth Symphony ............................ Rachmaninov Peterloo Overture ......................... Malcolm Arnold THE best performances given by the National Symphony Orchestra at last Tuesday's lunchtime concert were of pieces which gave opportunity for ample melodic shaping. John Finucane conducted a programme which included one welcome rarity, Rachmaninov's single movement Youth Symphony. Written when the composer was just 18, this piece is an interesting glimpse of a musical personality which is only just becoming truly individual. The performance was full blooded but did not have that clear sighted definition of texture and melodic shape necessary to do justice to the music's complex combination of big tunes and elaborate orchestration.

Prokofiev was 20 when he wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1, but the result is far more compelling than Rachmaninov's youthful effort. For this performance, the soloist was Dearbhla Collins. Her playing was full of energy and panache; yet, despite its technical security, it had a somewhat brittle frantic quality, incomatible with the music's heroic aspect.

Malcolm Arnold's awesomely obvious Peterloo Overture was played with a suitably - brusque energy. The best performances, however, were of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel overture, and of Borodin's In The Steppes of Central Asia. They were beautifully shaped and paced and featured some fine solo playing from the wind sections.