Irish String Trio

{TABLE} Quartet in F, K370 for Oboe and String Trio ........... Mozart Concerto in D for Guitar and String Trio............... Vivaldi Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio Rodrigo arr. ............ Feely Moresca for Harp Trio.................................. Victory {/TABLE} THERE was a pleasantly relaxed feel about Friday's lunchtime concert in the NCH John Field Room.

The idle rich of the 18th century might have comfortably wielded their knives and forks to such music, an elegant and tastefully restrained accompaniment to the business of eating; they might have missed the subtleties of Matthew Manning's oboe playing in Mozart's Oboe Quartet, most discreetly supported by "the Irish String Trio.

Each work in the programme was in effect a vehicle for a soloist.

In Vivaldi's Concerto, John Feeley's guitar repeated the success of the oboe; Vivaldi and Mozart nodded to each other in a friendly manner.

Feeley's arrangement of the slow movement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez was for guitar and two wind and four strings.

(The flute was played by Marie Comiskey and the extra violin by Sarah Moffatt.)

As a chamber work the Concierto lacked substance, and pleasant as it was to listen to, it could not compete with the Mozart and the Vivaldi.

Victory's Moresca (1990) was played with bravura by Denise Kelly (harp) with Sheila O'Grady (violin) and Moya O'Grady (cello) from the Irish String Trio.

This work, being the least obviously tuneful of those in the recital, demanded a more attentive ear as the composer played around with his mostly fragmentary material.

Despite its complexity and the spirited performance it was less rewarding to listen to than the other works.