ELGAR'S Serenade for Strings can appear saccharine and meandering in many performances. Not so here.

The Vacation Chamber Orchestra attacked it with gusto, delivering a visceral performance that yet lacked nothing in tenderness in the lovely middle movement. This opening work set the tone – and the bar – for an evening of high quality music-making.

The string orchestra played the entire programme without a conductor and with violins and violas standing. No mere fad, despite the current popularity of this approach with period bands, it allowed great freedom of expression in the bowing and ensured that each player listened intently to the others.

The only time ensemble was momentarily threatened was in the final movement of Griegs Holberg Suite, taken at a thrilling pace, but something of a white-knuckle ride for players and audience alike.

This suite, deservedly popular, shows Grieg’s skills not only in melodic and harmonic invention but in writing for strings, exploring a range of sounds and textures, apparently effortlessly but with immense craftsmanship.

The two other main works in the programme were Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, played with appropriate earthy weight and great rhythmic verve, and Malcolm Arnold’s all too rarely heard Concerto for Two Violins. This, as all the other pieces, was introduced to the audience helpfully, and with wit and personal anecdote, by the orchestra’s indefatigable musical director, Xenophon Kelsey.

The soloists, Andra Vornicu and Megan Collis, made a formidable partnership, finding wit and tenderness in the music and throwing off its technical demands with confidence and charm. The orchestra’s accompaniment was sensitive and attentive throughout, not least in the gorgeous slow movement.

Two fillers were Puccini’s Crisantemi, popularised in recent years as a "smooth classic" by a certain commercial radio station, and Victor Kioulapides’ Idillio Sinfonico, apparently written in homage to Puccini and very much in the style of what Sir Thomas Beecham would no doubt have regarded as a "lollipop": sweet and pleasant, but not especially nutritious.

The four main items, however, provided plenty of musical nourishment and reminded the audience – again, conspicuously short on numbers but lacking nothing in enthusiasm – how fortunate we are to receive regular visits from the beneficiaries of the VaCo workshops.

Andrew Bennett