Crabb, RTÉ NSO/Brönnimann

NCH, Dublin

Villa-Lobos— Bachianas brasileiras No 4.

Piazzolla— Concierto de Acancagua.

Piazzolla/Crabb— Oblivion.

Bernstein— Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.

The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is being adventurous on a number of fronts. It’s not just that it’s acquired a new principal conductor (Alan Buribayev), a new principal guest conductor (Hannu Lintu) and a first-ever associate artist (Finghin Collins), all in the one season.

It’s expanding its activities well beyond its long-established, weekly Friday night slot. This year’s schedule includes not just pre-concert talks, but also pre-concert concerts. There’s a daytime Musical Discovery series, with programmes aimed at different age groups. And there are late-night events, too, post-concert discussions and post-concert concerts.

Friday’s programme had a Latin-American flavour, with Scottish accordionist as soloist in Astor Piazzolla’s Concierto de Acancagua. And when the concert was over, he was joined at 10pm on the NCH stage by a group of principals for a session of tangos.

The main concert, sad to say, was a rather limp affair. Swiss conductor Baldur Brönniman is currently music director of the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra. But his handling of the fourth of Villa-Lobos's series of Bachianas brasileirasand Piazzolla's Bandoneon Concerto didn't suggest any great sympathy for the music of South America. The Villa-Lobos sounded too often muddy, and in the concerto the solo accordion was often obscured by the orchestra.

The programme's high point was James Crabb's arrangement of Piazzolla's poignant Oblivion, where everything suddenly fell into place. The concert's final item, the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein's West Side Story,is the kind of piece which is normally a runaway success. Brönnimann made it sound literal, pressured, unswinging.

After a short interval, the stage was cleared, and when the audience reassembled there was real buzz of anticipation for the late-night concert. Listeners weren’t disappointed. Crabb sounded at home in duos with violinist Elaine Clarke, and with a larger ensemble – pairs of violins, violas and cellos, plus double bass and piano. The presentation of pieces by Piazzolla and Agri was relaxed and informal, the playing sensual, spirited and bittersweet. The audience loved every moment and recorded their appreciation with a standing ovation.