As part of their Crescendo Tour, in which they took orchestral music to many of the schools of Wales and sought to set up several school orchestras, Wales’ premier chamber orchestra came to Cardiff.

Their programme was a mix of new and old.They premiered two new pieces which both had film music at their heart. Gareth Glyn is a figure well-known to many Welsh musicians . His ‘Legend of the lake’ dealt with a legend from his native Anglesey with an unashamedly Romantic voice, making expert use of the gamut of devices common to film music composers with sweeping melodies, sharp changes of mood and texture, and the full palette of orchestral colour used to full effect. An attractive suite of pieces performed with elan by the 30 players conducted by Mark Eager..

Also enjoyable was Michael Csanyi-Wills’ ´Seagull Nebula’. This was a very different approach to descriptive music . More ‘2001- A Space Odyssey’ than the ‘Lord of the Rings ‘ of the earlier piece. Passages showing the influence of Ligeti and Penderecki alternated with expressive sections with soaring brass solos over expressive strings.

They had opened with Mendelssohn’s overture ‘The Hebrides’ in which attempts to emphasise the dramatic elements ,with exaggerated dynamics and tempo changes , were strangely unconvincing despite some good attention to detail.

The highlight of the concert was Beethoven’s first symphony. In particular a last movement, taken at breakneck speed, and full of high spirits. Did Beethoven ever write anything happier?