LAST Saturday's concert by the Britten Sinfonia in the Orchestras Live series at The Courtyard was my favourite so far.

The conductor, Nicholas Daniel, explained that the four works were composed within six years of each other and all demonstrated the composers' contrasting takes on traditional English folk music.

We began with Vaughan Williams' beautiful Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus. The warm sheen of the orchestra's tone and the understated playing drew listeners in to what Mr Daniel described as the cathedral-like acoustic inherent in the work.

Next was a spell-binding performance of Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, with John Mark Ainsley (tenor) and Stephen Bell (horn). JMA took the narrator's approach with crystal-clear diction, highlighting the wonderful, diverse poetry chosen by Britten. Stephen Bell played with virtuosity, and the audience responded enthusiastically to what was a sublime performance of this extraordinary work.

Vaughan-Williams' Oboe Concerto, with Nicholas Daniel as soloist, is full of improvisatory, almost 'bluesy', elements and was performed with impressive dynamic range and intricate interplay between oboe and orchestra.

Lastly we heard Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra, played with great attention to detail. The deeply-moving slow movement was also the most musically satisfactory, with the double fugue displaying Tippett's intense love for Beethoven.

It was a wonderful showcase of English 20th century music and I feel we are very lucky to have orchestras of such calibre now performing regularly in Hereford.

The Hellens Singers, conducted by Nigel Haywood sang engagingly in the caf bar before and after the concert to a very appreciative audience.

Roger Langford