LAST autumn, many of York Guildhall Orchestra's regular audience found the prospect of a temporary move to Central Hall distasteful - and stayed away. On Saturday, Schubert and Brahms lured many of them back, but it was the orchestra under Simon Wright that sounded uneasy in its new home.

You could travel very widely and not find a pair of soloists as well-matched in the Brahms Double Concerto as the Johnston brothers. Both Magnus, the violinist, and Guy, the cellist, projected warm personalities, but never the jousting of egos that can so easily disfigure this work. With Magnus sweet-toned at the top of his range and Guy sustaining a rich attack, they kept the lyrical and dramatic sides of the score in thrilling balance. Their lightning octave scale at the end of the opening cadenza was particularly breathtaking. Yet the orchestra delivered a less than attentive accompaniment, regularly behind the beat. This was especially troubling in the slow movement, which was disjointed and moved in blocks. There were two performances taking place here: the pity was that they rarely coincided.

Schubert's Ninth, suffered similarly. It reached a brief zenith in the andante, with Jane Wright's oboe notably succulent among some neat woodwind. But there was serious lack of ensemble in the third movement and spidery filigrees in the first violins. The finale was untidy. Mr Wright's casual style, so often a source of satisfaction, had let him down.

Updated: 11:24 Monday, February 07, 2005