LAST weekend's three day visit of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra to the new Belfast Waterfront Hall proved disappointing, writes Michael Dervan. The rather lax orchestral playing would have been cause enough in itself, but the concerts had also been expected to provide a golden opportunity for sizing up the hall's acoustic. That particular opportunity has now been lost.

Whatever the cause - the travails of financially pressured arts institutions in post Soviet Russia, perhaps, or the migration of Russian musicians to more remunerative work abroad? - the Belfast concerts under Yuri Temirkanov revealed few of the special qualities that were heard from this orchestra under Mariss Jansons in Dublin 10 years ago.

The hall has had its teething problems, from slow preconcert queues at box office and cloakroom, to wrong programmes being issued on the opening night, public address announcements during St Petersburg encores, and the failure to contact all ticket holders about the rescheduling of the orchestra's Sunday concert from 8 p.m. to 4 p.m.

But the major fact about this hall is that it's up and running. And don't forget, the whole project was initiated by the Belfast City Council. What would you think if Dublin Corporation had just bequeathed the city a £32 million concert hall?