Reviewed today are John Ryan and the National Youth Orchestra at The Helix, Dublin

John Ryan (horn), NYO/En Shao

Mahony Hall, The Helix

Russlan and Ludmilla Overture....Glinka

Horn Concerto No 1....Strauss

Symphony No 5....Mahler

The National Youth Orchestra migrated from the National Concert Hall to The Helix on Saturday for its first Dublin concert of the new year. The move was hardly surprising given that The Helix's main auditorium, the Mahony Hall, is named after one of the new venue's major benefactors, Tim Mahony, who is also the chairman of the orchestra's long-standing patron, Toyota Ireland.

Chinese conductor En Shao, onetime principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, has been one of the NYO's most frequent guest conductors since he first conducted the orchestra 10 years ago. Most of the repertoire he's explored has been Russian. This year's programme marked his first excursion into Mahler.

His manner in the Fifth Symphony was rather stiff, even formal. It was as if the emotionalism of the music were something to be kept at bay, the colourful surface a useful mask to hide the depth of feeling underneath.

There's a strong case to be made for avoiding expressive overstatement in Mahler's music. But the frequent understatement of En Shao's approach on Saturday failed to make a persuasive case for the sort of taming he chose to engage in.

The bustle and dash of Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla Overture were also limited by the conductor's four-square music-making.

Richard Strauss's early E flat Horn Concerto was written when the composer was still in his teens, just old enough, in fact, to qualify for membership of an orchestra like the NYO. Saturday's soloist, John Ryan, a former member of the NYO, is now co-principal horn with the London Symphony Orchestra. He gave a considered account of the work through which the youthful Strauss gratified his notoriously reactionary father.

In spite of his reputation as one of the great horn players of his age, Strauss senior never dared tackle the concerto's challenges in public, although he happily performed it in private.

The orchestra's playing was generally well disciplined throughout the evening, although the weight of the strings was often rather too light to balance the more readily available volume of the heavier wind instruments.

The distinctive colouring of the mostly well-taken solos was accurately conveyed in The Helix's warm acoustic.

Michael Dervan