Irwin, NYOS/Masson

NCH, Dublin

Webern

– Six Pieces for Orchestra Op 6.

Webern– Three Fragments from Wozzeck.

Mahler– Symphony No 5

Founded in 1979, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland (NYOS) toured Ireland for the first time last week, bringing to three venues 127 eager instrumentalists, a tough early 20th-century programme, and bags of excitement. Three guest participants represented the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, the Ulster Youth Orchestra, and the Wiener Jeunesse Orchester.

The NYOS players are aged from 12 to 21, with no shortage of representation at the younger end. Their high standards testified not just to sheer talent, but to solid organisation, inspiring tuition, and the special wisdom of conductor Diego Masson.

Performing with the bite and agility of a much smaller ensemble, the 77 strings combined clarity with grainy and often luminous tone. The woodwinds, equipped with five of each instrument as opposed to the usual two or three, injected uncommon doses of weight and vivid colour, while the pivotal brass solos of Mahler’s Symphony No 5 were despatched with unfaltering flair.

Soprano Jane Irwin was a commanding presence in scenes from Berg’s Wozzeck, having made her recent switch from the mezzo register without cost to the gravitas familiar to Dublin audiences.

It was in these extracts that Masson drew from his young musicians their most subtly energised and organically expressive playing. In contrast, Webern's intangible and mostly fleeting Six Pieces Op 6impressed rather on the level of a corporate (and slightly wobbly) tight-rope walk.

With Mahler, however, the orchestra oozed confidence, even when fatigue threatened the tautness of the finale. It was as if Masson had judged precisely how far to subjugate the details to a spirited and invigorating whole.