Parade of pianists

{TABLE} Rosamunde Overture ............ Schubert Piano Concerto in A mi ........ Schumann Les Djinns .................... Franck Hungarian Sketches ............ Bartok Piano Concerto No 1 ........... Mendelssohn Criss Cross ................... Philip Martin {/TABLE} LAST night's concert at the INCH celebrated the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition and highlighted that the competition has a new sponsor, Guardian Insurance. The winners of the three GPA competitions each played a piece for piano and orchestra. They were joined by the competition's founding father, John O'Conor, for Philip Martin's Criss Cross, commissioned for the occasion by what is now the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition.

One of the most striking features of the concert was the alertness of conductor Robert Houlihan to the restrictions imposed, by the small size of the RTE Concert Orchestra's string section. The musicians responded with some of the most finely graded playing I have heard from the RTECO in many years.

In Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Davide Franceschetti (1994) was so restrained that the music scarcely reached out to the audience. Compare this with his furious abandon in the 1994 final and we have a young musician (about 20) who will risk exploring extremities.

A more appropriate and muscular style was adopted by Pavel Nersessian (1991) in Franck's Les Djinns. He made the most of this occasionally crude piece, especially via a superlative range of tone.

Philippe Cassard's (1988) playing of Mendelssohn's. Piano Concerto No. 1 was masterly, though I found the first movement rather hard driven. I cannot remember hearing this dashing piece played so that every note seemed to count.

In Criss Cross, Philip Martin mixes famous tunes from the four relevant countries, Italy, Russia, France and Ireland, in a fun piece for two pianos and orchestra. It made a suitably ebullient end to an unusual celebration.