Leslie Cassidy's guitar recital at the National Concert Hall's John Field Room last Friday lunchtime was titled The Last Romantic. That is not an entirely accurate description of the Paraguayan composer and virtuoso Agustin Barrios Mangore (1885-1944), but it is apt.

Only a third or so of Mangore's output of around 300 works has survived. Some of the 10 pieces on this programme, almost entirely devoted to his music, showed folk and religious influences. Others had a Chopinesque approach to melody and accompaniment, with titles to match - Mazurka apasionada and Vals. And all these pieces, none of them longer than four minutes or so, showed a sustained compositional craftsmanship not common in composer-players for this instrument.

Leslie Cassidy is one of those recitalists who manages to do his own thing. In this recital, he drew his audience into an intimate world in which quiet, chatty introductions, tuning the instrument and playing the music merged seamlessly. There was some pleasing instrumental colour and melodic shaping. Yet sometimes one longed for a more projected style, especially in the dance-based pieces, and unforced presentation did not always sit comfortably with a tendency to skate over technical challenges. The overall approach could easily have come across as casual, except that it was so obviously informed by a deep respect for the music.