NCH, Dublin

Derek Bourgeois – Hafabra Overture. Concerto for Alto Saxophone. Hindemith – Symphony in B flat. Wagner – Elsa’s Procession. Roger Cichy – Bugs Suite. Robert Russell Bennett – Suite of Old American Dances.

The Irish Youth Wind Ensemble gathers annually for a week every summer to work together on specialist repertoire which they then perform in concert. This year’s band sounded terrific: a fine overall standard of individual playing, combined with good balance and blend, and plenty of good solos.

Credit for this goes beyond the talent and commitment of the young players, extending to the expertise and coaching of artistic director Ronan O’Reilly and his team of tutors. And yet, the concert produced a strong sense of missed opportunity, not because of the young amateur players – who sounded so good – but because of decisions made on their behalf.

The programming, for example, offered music of interest to few outside of wind-playing circles, with a very small audience as confirmation. Within that music were two entirely second-rate pieces by someone called Derek Bourgeois. Not even the refined playing of soloist Kenneth Edge could redeem the repeated cliches and predictability of Bourgeois’ Concerto for Alto Saxophone.

Another unfortunate decision was by O'Reilly, who conducted the concert, to avoid placing much in the way of musical demands on the ensemble. His conducting was always precise, but he seemed reluctant to show what he required in order for them to make music rather than merely play notes. This was especially damaging for the quirky and engaging Symphony in B flat by Hindemith, and for Lucien Calliet's dignified arrangement of Elsa's Procession to the Cathedralfrom Wagner's Lohengrin.

O'Reilly stepped up his demands a bit at the last minute, so that the concert ended well with a good sense of character in the light-hearted cakewalks and waltzes of Robert Russell Bennett's Suite of Old American Dances.