Having finished my exam marking the previous day and with a Bank Holiday weekend ahead, I had a spring in my step as I walked through a sunny Dublin yesterday evening for the season finale of concerts by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland of 2026. The guest conductor for the evening was Jonas Alber. As usual for the closing concert of the season there was a very full house. There were only two items on the menu, but it was a substantial feast, so much so that I only just made it back to Pearse after the concert for the train home! The first piece was new to me – the Violin Concerto by Benjamin Britten. This was written in 1939 just after Britten moved to the United States. It’s an unusual piece that reminded me very much of Prokofiev, especially the second movement which is a very long scherzo. The third movement involves a Passacaglia (thematic variations played over a repeated bass pattern), rather reminiscent that deployed in the Opera Peter Grimes. Overall its atmosphere is…
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