Lakeland Sinfonia, Westmorland Hall, Kendal

The opening concert of the Lakeland Sinfonia’s 41st season included a work by a composer completely unknown, except, perhaps, by an erudite minority, to everybody hearing it. Full marks, then, to the programme planners for their initiative. Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga’s Symphony in D is a pleasantly melodious invention, but not one to set the world alight and although the Sinfonia did their best (despite a number of hairy moments in the finale) they failed to ignite the audience’s enthusiasm for it. Wyn Davies, a favourite conductor of the sinfonia, always coaxes the best out of them. During Beethoven’s Corolan Overture and again during his 4th Piano Concerto, there were passages of real beauty wherein the strings sang sweetly, the woodwinds combined sensitively, the attack generally crisp and precise and the performances vital and committed. Sam Haywood, the nimble-fingered and, where appropriate, powerful and poetically-delicate pianist, captured well the varying moods of the work.

Da Falla’s Three Cornered Hat Suite with its vibrant Spanish complexities found the players to be on the edges of their seats. A far-from-easy work to perform, their reading of it gave evidence of much detailed rehearsal and provided a splendid finale.

Brian Paynes