The new season for the orchestra set off at a bustling pace in a rendition of Handel's Water Music that set a serious challenge for the string section as they struggled to keep pace with the energetic demands of conductor Robert Jacoby. This famous celebratory music took on a very lively dimension under his baton, leaving at least one member of the audience quite out of breath.

Happily, things settled down to a more leisurely style with the little-heard Duet Concertino by Richard Strauss. This is a complex and demanding piece - for both audience and players - which John Candor on clarinet and Julian Lockett on Bassoon, two regular members of the orchestra, performed with consummate skill.

The pinnacle of the evening for many was Beethoven's 4th Symphony in B Flat, an uplifting performance that captured both the nobility of the work and its generally optimistic nature with many hints by the composer of future work to come.

It is greatly to the credit of the orchestra that they can deliver major classical pieces of this calibre with all the aplomb and bravura associated with much grander musical groups. It is never necessary to make allowances for modest accomplishments among the musicians, they are perfectly capable of holding their own against any of their neighbours.

Reprinted by permission of the Dorset Echo.