NCC/Claudio Buchler

The Oslo-born, Austria-raised chorus master and conductor Claudio Buchler is not a figure new to Dublin. He worked in the past with Opera Ireland and made his debut with the National Chamber Choir on Thursday, in the choir's "Making Connections" series, offering a programme which ranged from Monteverdi through Victoria, Villa-Lobos, Penderecki, Guastavino and Joselito to Piazzolla.

The choice of a South American connection (Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos, Guastavino and, presumably, the unidentified Joselito) probably stems from the fact that Buchler's parents were from Argentina; the publicity, on the other hand, had suggested Monteverdi as the link in a connection that was never explained.

The simple, folksy style of Guastavino, a 20th-century figure whose work is rooted in 19th-century practice, was well served by the choir, who also rose impressively to the challenges of a wordless, Swinglestyle version of Piazzolla's La Muerte del Angel.

Piazzolla's Balada para un loco, on the other hand, proved to be a tiresome indulgence in the worst aspects of the composer's sentimentality.

The larger works on the programme, Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna, a highpoint of early opera which now survives only in a madrigal arrangement, and Villa-Lobos's late Bendita sabedoria, were given what sounded like workin-progress performances.

Penderecki's Agnus Dei, written in his later neo-romantic mode, was handled as if the earlier, exploratory Penderecki had simply not existed. Victoria's O magnum mysterium had an apt certainty of expressive purpose which set it apart from the far more impressive but altogether more problematic Monteverdi.