Sparkling virtuosity

Symphony No 3 (Organ) - Saint-Saens

Symphonie espagnole - Lalo

Daphnis et Chloe Suite No 2 - Ravel

The playing of the Polish violinist Piotr Kwasny was one of several highlights in a rewarding concert at the National Concert Hall on Thursday night. With the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alexander Anissimov, Kwasny gave a sparkling performance of Lalo's Symphonie espagnole. This piece has little substance but lots of character, and everyone made the most of it. The second movement, in particular, saw outstanding accompanying from conductor and orchestra.

Kwasny was born in 1978 and is remarkable less for his technical prowess - there are many young wizards of technique - than for his musical sophistication. Virtuosity was in its proper place, for he understood what was going on around him, varied his projection in give-and-take with the orchestra and shaped his part impeccably. I would like to hear him in some better music.

One of the most pleasing features of this concert, and of many others I have heard from the NSO and Anissimov, is that there is no obvious striving for good ensemble. It seems just to happen. Unlike that hard-edged precision so prevalent in modern orchestral playing, rhythmic energy springs from focused, often subtle, expressive purposes.

These qualities helped make the most of Saint Saens's Symphony No. 3 (the "Organ Symphony"). In the finale, for example, the first statement of the famous tune had an extraordinary - and memorable - veiled colour and floating motion.

Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2 is one of the most complex of orchestral scores; yet nobody was intimidated. The large ensembles and the many solos were vividly coloured and everything seemed to move in enormous sweeps. That takes control; but the performance sounded utterly spontaneous.