Variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky - Arensky
Serenade for strings - Suk Piano
Concerto No 1 - Chopin
The programme offered at St Ann's, Dawson Street, by the Orchestra of St Cecilia took considerable musical risks. Arensky's Tchaikovsky Variations and Suk's Serenade for strings, both products of the mid-1890s, need sympathetic handling if they're not to sound too lightweight to justify their length. And reducing Chopin's First Piano Concerto to a strings-only accompaniment inevitably diminishes the music.
Visiting conductor Jean Thorel managed to get the Orchestra of St Cecilia to play with greater than usual chamber-orchestras colour. But his discipline in other areas was weak. The playing was not always tidy in ensemble and intonation, and his way with rhythm was flaccid enough to undermine clarity of pulse.
The Arensky and Suk were rendered almost characterless by the approach, and the first half of the concert made for exceptionally dreary listening.
Miceal O'Rourke greatly enlivened proceedings after the interval with sensitively suave playing in the Chopin. But, how much better it would all have sounded if the orchestral contribution had had the full complement of instruments the composer intended.
