It is the way of the world, I suppose - or at least of the National Concert Hall - that an orchestra best-known for its performances of contemporary music, should come to Dublin to play a programme of 19th-century music.
That's what the WDR Symphony Orchestra from Cologne is doing next Friday, when Semyon Bychkov (right) conducts Beethoven (the Leonora No 3 Overture) and Brahms (the First Symphony).
There's also Mendelssohn's Two-Piano Concerto in E with the Labeque sisters, who should provide an experience that even the Axa Dublin International Piano Competition (climaxing with six concert performances over Wednesday and Thursday) can't quite rival, as it's restricted to one-piano works.
