Puccini's scores are complex ones that need more rehearsal than I suspect Lyric Opera could give its La Boheme at the NCH. Conductor Fergus Sheil maintained good balance between stage and orchestra, but not within vocal ensembles or between instrumental groups.

His choice of tempos was puzzling. Very fast speeds for conversational passages, which hampered vocal and instrumental articulation, alternated with undue lingering over the main lyrical moments.

Mimi's two arias were especially slow but this did not trouble Nicola Sharkey, who spun out the long arching phrases with ease.

The Dublin soprano's vocal weighting was perfect for a performance on this scale. She looked frail, acted with conviction and sang with melting tone. Her sense of phrasing was good and she subtly manipulated dynamics to make her voice sound much larger than it actually is.

Richard Roberts's tenor, unpromisingly white at first, gradually warmed into a more ardent sound. Sadly, this Rodolfo was no poet, and his inability to shape phrases, combined with his non-acting, negated the good vocal effect.

The sheer volume of baritone Mark Holland overpowered everyone else, except Kathryn Smith, who played and sang Musetta with considerable aplomb. Unfortunately their combined effort turned the second act septet and the third act quartet into virtual duets.

The rest of the voices were too weak to carry in other than lightly-accompanied music, but baritone Patrick Doherty and bass John Morrissey suggested that they are singers of some musicality.

The Cantabile Singers were more effective in the rumbustious second act, where the children of RTE's Cor na nOg made a splendid contribution, than they were in the unison snatches at the start of Act 3.