Saturday night's concert was organised by the Instituto Cervantes to mark the centenary of the birth of Joaqu∅n Rodrigo. He was regarded by some, within Spain and without, as a conservative whose popular success hindered the progress of Spanish music. Yet he was the composer who, above all others, encouraged the guitar as a concert instrument.

In the first half, the guitar quartet from north-western Spain played music from Spain and South America. As in last year's Dublin Guitar Week, they made a strong impression, playing as one, but with enough independence to give each player a distinctive voice, the mix of homogeneity and individuality perfect for each piece.

The explorations of folk-based styles by such composers as the Cuba-born Flores Chaviano set the scene for Rodrigo's use of the same idioms in the Concierto Andaluz (1967) for four guitars and orchestra. This closing work of the programme, which never reaches the artistic qualities of the famous Concierto De Aranjuez, saw Entrequatre on top form. Their support from the Orchestra of St Cecilia and conductor Geoffrey Spratt was reliable and sympathetic, though not always technically polished.

The most interesting music was Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre (1954), in which Jes·s Prieto was an able soloist. From a composer who was also a historian and scholar of Spanish music, it shows a flair with gritty recreations of Renaissance styles that compares favourably with works such as Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite, written nearly 30 years earlier.