Royal Northern Sinfonia Ensemble, Kendal Town Hall

The New Year dawned for Midday Concert Club in testing fashion. It was – as one Staveleyan ironically described it – a “bonnie morning” and it was easy to envisage the aqueous conditions outside embellishing the three attractive panels depicting the Auld Grey Town’s roofscape that we were admiring as we waited for the concert to start.

The four young members of the Royal Northern Sinfonia Ensemble, who had battled their way across the Pennines to present a programme of String Trios, Duos and Quartets by Moeran, Mozart and Haydn, dutifully described their trip as a ‘pleasure;’ it certainly was so for the many hardy, faithful devotees of the club.

The players, in their attractively-varied programme, illuminated well the stylistic elements of each work; Moeran’s pastoral, lyrical idioms, Mozart’s superbly-crafted, elegant textures, Haydn’s originality of scoring. Always was there beauty of sound, technical finesse, appropriate sparkle and depth of emotion, rhythmic precision and, on the whole, splendid balance (just occasionally was there a need for greater projection at the top).

It was good to be back in harness - with another lovely experience.

Brian Paynes