{TABLE} Overture: Mignon ........... Thomas Piano Concerto in G ........ Ravel "New World" Symphony ....... Dvorak {/TABLE} THE National Symphony Orchestra's concert at the National Concert Hall last night had the sort of strengths which make one sit up and take notice. This was despite misgivings about the conductors pacing of events. Rico Saccani, who within the last two years directed the NSO in a concert and recording of Verdi's Aida, tended to produce tension by pressing the speed, or by highlighting the moment.

In the outer movements of Dvorak's 9th Symphony ("From the New World"), the result was a short breathed intensity which does not do full justice to this forceful, but loosely integrated music.

Yet, under Saccani's baton, the NSO played with enormous confidence, with certainty of shaping and ensemble, and with an expressive definition which drew one into the music. The applause which greeted the wind players, for example, who are so prominent in the slow movement of the Dvorak, was well deserved.

Philippe Cassard's playing of the solo part in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G was a delight, and the tight ensemble between him and the orchestra was especially rewarding in such a precise piece. Written after a visit to the USA in the 1920s, this concerto embraces some extreme stylistic contrasts. Cassard's approach to them was thought provoking. He eschewed the persistent, hard edged brilliance so often associated with the fast movements, in favour of a mix of steely dazzle, Gallic lyricism and jazz inspired panache; and in its mix of large scale shape and attention to detail, the slow movement seemed a nostalgic recreation of the Rococo art which inspired it.