{TABLE} Zampa Overture ....................................... Herold Summer Evening ....................................... Delius Concerto for Solo Percussion and Chamber Orchestra .... Richard Rodney Bennett Finlandia ............................................. Sibelius {/TABLE} YESTERDAY lunchtime concert at the National Concert Hall, given by the RTE Concert Orchestra and conductor Colman Pearce, was dominated by Richard Rodney Bennett's Concerto for Solo Percussion and Chamber Orchestra.

This four movement piece lasts about 25 minutes and was written seven years ago for Scottish virtuoso Evelyn Glennie. Richard Rodney Bennett is a composer whose technical facility can take over, resulting in music of journeyman ordinariness, or just lack of individuality. But in this concerto it seemed that the unusual resources, plus Glennie's extraordinary skills, helped him produce some of his more individualistic ideas. These, plus the distinctive structures often cyclic held one's attention.

The real star of the concert was the percussion soloist, Cork born Peadar Townsend, who was A finalist in this year's RTE Young Musician of the Future Competition. He had the charisma for the visual elements of virtuoso percuss ion playing and the general elan of his performance was compelling.

Of the three other items on the programme, Sibelius's Finlandia fared best. Harold's Zampa Overture had its moments, but Colman Pearce's pacing of events lacked tension and, while Delius's tone poem Summer Evening had an aptly lazy speed, it did not have that focus towards climaxes which can make it really sensuous, despite some fine solo playing from the woodwind. By contrast, Finlandia was paced thoughtfully, and the result was correspondingly stronger.