Concorde/Jane O'Leary

Herbert Lieder (1993) - Gabriella Zen

Con leggereza pensasa (1990) - Elliot Carter

Peacock (in memoriam) Janet Maguire Fiori No. 2 (1995 - Ernesto Rubin de Cervin

Ecu, che ascuti - Claudio Ambrosini

Concorde has recently returned from Venice and Padua, where it gave performances of contemporary Irish music. On Sunday in the Lane Gallery it gave an Irish audience an opportunity to sample the work of contemporary composers from those cities, with Elliot Carter's Italian-titled but very un-Italian piece as a little extra.

Tina Verbeke was the soprano soloist in the Herbert Lieder (with piano and percussion, in Peacock (with flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, viola and cello and in Ecu, che ascuti (with vibraphone). The composers of these all favoured a slowly unwinding vocal line, supported by a very restrained accompaniment. The words (there were none in Peacock) were of little importance, as the voice parts were treated instrumentally. The often quite subtle blendings of voice and instruments seemed to be aiming at a quality of timelessness, but the music that resulted never completely emerged from its atmosphere of stasis. It was interestingly representative of a new simplicity but lacked a sense of inner compulsion.

Fiori No 2 (for flute and piano) was, in contrast, quite angular and uncomfortable, looking back towards a more intellectual tradition. Fiori and Peacock were both receiving their first performances.