Abergavenny Symphony Orchestra, Our Lady and St Michael's Church, Abergavenny

4:35pm Wednesday 30th April 2008

Today's amateur symphony orchestras rarely have it easy in living up to audience expectations.

Almost every piece of music written is available in multiple versions that emerge continually from recordings, broadcasts and concert halls.

And it is played by musicians who have rarely been surpassed in virtuosity and confederate originality.

In comparison, what chance does the part-time band have that gives a few concerts a year?

To answer that one needs to share the enthusiasm and dedication of the Abergavenny orchestra, especially when it entertains a guest soloist as sure-fingered as Laurence Kempton was in Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

From those first expectant drum beats, through the ethereal tranquility of the slow movement and the rondo tune that enlivens the finale, the orchestra was with him all the way, supplying timely prompts and agreeable company.

The strict tempo of the overture to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and the frantic scherzo of Dvorak's Sixth Symphony again demonstrated that what conductor Brian Weir sought from his players was delivered in a sustained manner.

By amateur', of course, is meant the exact status of the performing unit, not the individual players, who are often professional in some shape or form, or skilled laymen.

To mould such a mixture into one that can delve courageously into the soul of the Dvorak symphony, cope with the collision of double and triple time in its third movement and come out smiling at the end is an achievement.

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