A NEAR capacity audience almost filled the warm church on a chilly evening and a lovely tuning-up session by the sizeable Cleveland Chamber Orchestra perfectly set the atmosphere.

A reversal of items on the programme began with St Paul’s Suite by Gustav Holst, who had a life-long interest in introducing music to young people. This was written for the girls’ school where he taught music.

This suite is a varied, interesting work in four short movements, appealing to a young audience. It opened with a powerful surge from the strings.

Full of life and variety, there are clever effects when one section of the orchestra is playing against another and two melodies play alongside each other in conflicting tempi. Conducting was well handled by David Greed.

Dvorak’s Nocturne in B major op. 40 has been described as “a little gem”, and it is. Apparently starting life as the central movement of an abandoned string quartet, this section was retained and later developed as a beautiful nocturne.

Greed played solo violin in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, a highly descriptive work, showcasing the violin. It was a very fine performance by Greed, who cheerfully switched from very demanding playing to conducting.

It is quite something to see a good-sized orchestra with all strings going as in Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The speed and dexterity of the players was very impressive and the start of Autumn, where the solo violin and cello play together, was enhanced by seeing it performed.

The harpsichord added period flavour to marvellous bowing by the whole ensemble, while the solo work of David Greed was of an exceptional standard and he was presented with a bouquet to rapturous applause.

Irene MacDonald