Vastly different orchestras in their approach, with vastly different artistic directors at the helm of each, and yet, both encapsulate chamber-music making in its highest echelon of import.

The ICO gave the penultimate chapter of its four-part spring series in Limerick, Cork and Dublin over two weeks ago, under the directorship of Gabor Takacs- Nagy.

The audience at the NCH (22 April) was as healthy in numbers as I've seen to date for an ICO concert and the orchestra as healthy in its music-making as it always is. No phrase was left unturned in Takacs-Nagy's inventive interpretation of Mozart's Symphony No. 27, K199 and his exploration of extremes of dynamics made every step of the journey an exciting one.

The Hungarian conductor guided the orchestra through the folk-oriented Dvorak sextet with ease and only occasionally was a gear-change of tempo or attack, by which the work is dominated, unsuccessful.

For the first and only time in the spring series, the evening's soloist was not the evening's director but rather 23 year old, Philadelphia-born cellist, Bartholomew LaFollette.

LaFollette gave his first Irish recital last year as part of the ICO's MBNA Shannon International Music Festival under the 'Young Artist Platform' banner, so it was quite strange that he would appear in the extremely high-profile role in which he was here presented.

He certainly has all the technical makings of a soloist and more, and boasts a smooth, focused sound to match his stage manner but his performance of the Haydn C major concerto was that of a gifted and diligent student more than a soloist of the standard that should be appearing in front of the ICO.

His indulgently meditative second movement was flat . . . the theme never appeared in more than one guise no matter what key it returned in . . . and, as expected, his third movement was taken at such an unnecessarily breakneck speed as to be dizzying, ergo, unclear.

Just because you can doesn't mean you shouldf In a matter of years LaFollette will be a good and maybe even great soloist but the interpretative head is not yet as far advanced as his technical ability.

Accordionist, James Crabb will direct the ICO in the last programme of this series on 17 May (Limerick), 18 (Cork) and 20 (Dublin), with the music of Astor Piazzolla featuring heavily.

Dundee-born Crabb is considered to be the world's leading exponent of classical accordion but his experience of other genres from folk to jazz will indubitably enliven the performances.

The weekend after this, 25 and 26 May, the other IO, the IBO, will give the first of their summer concerts, in a programme entitled 'The Shadow of the Guillotine, Enlightenment, Revolution and Hell', an allencompassing title if I've ever seen one.

Artistic director, Monica Huggett, will put the IBO through their paces in a Boccherini and a Haydn Sinfonia and perform the solo violin part of a Haydn concerto. The concert on 25 May takes place in Castalia Hall in Callan, Co Kilkenny to be followed by the National Gallery of Ireland on 26.

Two more IBO concerts, the first a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Scarlatti, the second a programme dedicated to the famous/infamous Four Seasons with Huggett on violin again, will take place in June.

So whether there's a B or a C between the I and the O in an upcoming concert near you, you shouldn't go too far wrong.