{TABLE} Don Quixote...................... Strauss Ein Deutsches Requiem............ Brahms {/TABLE} THERE were many enjoyable aspects to last night's concert at the NCH. Yet the National Symphony Orchestra and the RTE Philharmonic Choir did not always make the impact which seemed to be intended. This was partly due to the speeds adopted by the conductor, Gerhard Markson, who stretched slow tempt towards the limits of what was possible for the piece concerned. This was risky and, not being the sort of risk that generates thrills, it seemed sometimes to make the performers uneasy.
That said, some of the slow speeds in Strauss's Don Quixote came off handsomely, especially in Dulcinea's music, where the NSO's warm tone and big phrasing was a treat. Strauss casts a solo cello as Don Quixote and a solo viola as Sancho Panza. The latter part was eloquently played by Lars Anders Tomter, while in the prominent, virtuosic cello solo Alexander Rudin gave an extraordinary portrayal of the Don's mercurial flights of fancy and emotion.
Until this performance of Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem I had not heard the RTE Philharmonic Choir since Mark Duley became its chorus master. The sound is more fresh and coloured: the choir sings like one that knows it should listen to itself, and knows how to. The soprano and alto sections have the strongest character and the best sound. The tenors are short on numbers and sometimes sound stretched; and, while there are plenty of basses, that section has yet to achieve the tone which can make a pianissimo sound thrilling.
Despite Brahms's rich scoring, the soprano and baritone solos are closer to lieder than to any other genre. I found Virginia Kerr a shade too forceful, despite her clear phrasing; and Wolfgang Glashof was far too operatic, while his intonation was decidedly shaky.
Both the choral singing and the NSO's playing strove to explore the expressive reaches of this music. That is to the conductor's credit, too. I just wished that he had loosened the reins a bit and let things run more freely.