Winning pairing ends fine series

Violin Concerto - Beethoven

Piano Concerto No 5 - Beethoven

The last concert in the ESB Beethoven Piano Concerto series ended with suitable panache at the National Concert Hall on Tuesday night. Everything about the orchestral playing confirmed the impression made by the two earlier concerts - that conductor Robert Houlihan and the Orchestra of St Cecilia are a winning combination.

With just one piano concerto to go, the Violin Concerto was an apt companion piece. Soloist Catherine Leonard did not strive against the orchestral part; she built on it. Only in the finale, where heavy pointing of the rondo theme felt like youthful misjudgement, was there any sense of imposition. Everywhere else, her playing and that of the orchestra were well-proportioned and full of the responsiveness that comes from listening to one another. Like Robert Houlihan, she takes a long-term view of the music; and the rewards this usually brought were consistent with recent claims in this newspaper that she is the most accomplished Irish violinist of her generation.

One of the most interesting aspects of this series has been the refusal of Hugh Tinney (piano) and Robert Houlihan to run with received interpretations of mainstream repertoire. Even in the Piano Concerto No 3, presented last week, they avoided the commonplace intensities of C-minor Beethoven in a favour of a chamber-music approach.

From orchestra and, especially, the soloist, the playing of Piano Concerto No 5 (the "Emperor") was altogether more risky. Even though there was some loss of finesse compared with the earlier concertos, that felt appropriate for music which so extravagantly expands Classical expression. The daring contrasts of the last movement made a strong ending to a very good series.