Baroque Christmas by Candlelight, St Cuthbert’s Church, Darlington

THE Royal Northern Sinfonia players and management must have been delighted at the response to this first date on a tour of performances across the region with a full house, a welcoming atmosphere and a feeling of anticipation.

For the largely baroque programme the Sinfonia comprised 12 string players led by violinist Tristan Gurney, with occasional harpsichord and solo instruments.

The strings alone opened with Grieg’s Holberg Suite with a full sound from the ensemble if a touch thin when divided.

The Air was particularly successful with a lovely haunting quality and the layers of sound handled perfectly.

In Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto in D Michael O’Donnell’s oboe was nicely balanced and integrated with the strings and in Corelli’s Christmas Concerto the lower strings were particularly effective considering there were only three of them.

Vivaldi’s Winter from The Four Seasons gave the leader chance to show off his violin technique in a performance which brought out the dramatic contrasts with an eerie beginning and the slow sections taken very slowly to set off the scurrying movements.

Torelli’s Trumpet Concerto featured Richard Martin in an impeccable performance which also gave us an opportunity to appreciate the rapport and flexibility of the strings.

Richard Tognetti’s arrangement for string orchestra of Grieg’s String Quartet No. 1 was most effective with the richer, fuller strings offsetting some of the sparer quartet parts although I wondered if a brighter and shorter piece by a baroque composer might have provided a more appropriate ending.

Peter Bevan