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Review Irish Times from August, 1, 2008

Oman, RTÉCO/Brophy NCH, Dublin

The featured singer at an RTÉ lunchtime concert has only a few minutes to create the desired impression, yet in five short numbers soprano Sandra Oman did so with skill.

Arditi's waltz Il bacio (The Kiss) sprang into action with a ready vocal agility that kept wisely within limits at the final cadenza.

Novello's We'll Gather Lilacs , despite a sometimes opaque accompaniment, was charming by dint of tasteful rubato, while the melodic contortions of Balfe's I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls seemed convincingly the work of some more eloquent tunesmith.

Two vignettes from Puccini were poised and affecting, though Oman's concentrated sophistication wasn't quite as well suited to the entreaties of Liù's Signore , ascolta (from Turandot) as it was to Musetta's provocative Quando m'en vo (from La bohème).

That said, for all her tonal brilliance and focused technique, the decisive factor was Oman's expressive and finely modulated manner of directing the performance right at her listeners.

Conductor David Brophy generated a keen atmosphere of tranquil tension in the Puccini items, which made also for a beautifully shaped account of the intermezzo from Leoncavallo's I pagliacci.

The playing wasn't as highly polished in two hoary dances, a brash and blustery Espana Waltz by Waldteufel, and the clumsily rustic Clog dance by Hérold.

Brophy, however, had staked all on a breakneck charge through Smetana's Bartered Bride Overture, and the risk reaped exciting rewards.

It was possible too, thanks to the flamboyant brogue of AJ Potter's Finnegan's Wake, to carry away the sense of having heard the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at their sparkling best.

ANDREW JOHNSTONE