Concorde/Jane O'Leary

Gelert - Gerard Power

Scrimmage - Geraldine Nolan Spada

Full Moon - Eunan McCreesh

Piano Trio No.1 - Greg Caffrey

through still pollen - Deirdre McKay

Concorde's recital in the Lane Gallery last Sunday consisted of five works by young or student composers in Ireland, and each work was receiving its first public performance. The titles, which related to the individual inspirations of each composer, might be linked to the pieces by sympathetic and imaginative effort, but turned out to be more of a distraction than a help. The slow moving and comparatively featureless Gelert seemed to bear little relationship to the old Welsh legend of the faithful hound and the dramatic landscape of North Wales; Scrimmage was less playful than expected; Full Moon left one wondering at the relevance of the passages for tubular bells; through still pollen, being the vaguest title, interfered less. Caffrey's conservatively titled Piano Trio No. 1 turned out to be the most inventive in terms of combinations of sound and structural diversity; McKay's through still pollen (for clarinet, violin, cello, piano) was equally unusual and its discreet gestures towards minimalism never palled. McCreesh's Full Moon (for clarinet, percussion, piano) made effective use of the bass clarinet but the tubular bells seemed to belong to another piece.

Power's Gelert had a dreaming opening which led to an extended and romantic melody on the cello - the other instruments were flute, clarinet, violin and piano - and was a miniature tone-poem: Nolan Spada's Scrimmage (five pieces for flute and clarinet) was more intellectual in its exploitation of two melodic lines.