An excellent and outstandingly enjoyable concert was given by Farnham Sinfonia to a capacity audience at St Andrew’s Church in Farnham on October 3.

All four works chosen were of top musical quality, and together they formed a very satisfying programme.

The concert opened with Haydn’s Symphony no. 30, conducted by the orchestra’s associate conductor Sasha Parker. From his guidance of the very first bow-strokes it was evident that this was going to be an elegant and stylish performance.

It was beautifully shaped, poised and balanced throughout, an immediate triumph for conductor and players to begin the concert.

The second item was Handel’s Organ Concerto in F, known as the Cuckoo and the Nightingale, with organ soloist Geoff Tuson. The ensemble of organist and chamber orchestra were conducted in this work by the orchestra’s principal conductor Matthew Taylor.

Poised and refined, the contrasts of the movements - two slow, two lively - were expertly achieved by soloist and orchestra in perfect collaboration. The soloist’s choices of stops, and his balancing of the departments of the organ, brought out the characteristic calls of the cuckoo and the nightingale perfectly. Total technical control from the soloist and ideal support from the orchestra, along with just the right amount of imagination all round - including from Handel.

After the relatively sedate Handel concerto, the second of the evening’s soloists, clarinettist Poppy Beddoe, brought a vivid change of style and pace - of everything, really.

Her brilliant and committed playing of Malcolm Arnold’s Clarinet Concerto no. 2, while maybe a bit of a shock to some listeners, was a terrific exhibition of the hugely prolific and versatile talent that Malcolm Arnold had.

Initially a professional trumpet player with a great deal of orchestral experience, Arnold went on to compose nine symphonies, concertos, and famous film scores for which he is equally well known.

While much of his music is on the face of it upbeat - including jazz-style, as in this concerto - he did suffer very severe mental ill health. It is too big a subject to address here, but the intensity heard in the slow movement of this concerto perhaps hints at this darkness.

The second half of the concert was a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No 4 in B flat. This was hugely enjoyable. Directed again by Matthew Taylor - from memory, significantly - all its character was brought out with maximum effect.

Thousands, possibly millions, of notes added to the thousands already played in the previous items, this final work demanded a real tour de force of skilful playing, and it brought the concert to an exhilarating end.

A very busy and demanding evening, perhaps especially for the strings, it was enhanced by woodwind, brass and timps with playing of the highest quality too.

It was a concert of almost always the highest standard of technical neatness, musically always ideally led and achieved.

Players from the sinfonia will perform next in the Christmas Soireé at Bury Court Barn in Bentley on December 13 from 3pm to 4pm. To register attendance visit farnhamsinfonia.org.uk

By Malcolm Hicks