The St.Helens Sinfonietta’s “in-house” wind ensemble, HarmonieMusik, derives its name from the German use of the word Harmonie to describe an instrumental group comprising, typically, two each of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns, with or without a flute on top. This is not an easy combination to write for, as many composers have found. Saturday’s concert revealed that Mozart’s little-known contemporary, Antonio Rosetti, was one who didn’t quite get it right. Mozart himself, who always got everything right, was represented by another work not very often played, his four-movement Serenade No. 12 in C minor, which is hardly the light entertainment its title suggests, but a surprisingly earnest symphonic piece with some dense contrapuntal writing. This too, though performed with care, beauty and insight, sounded uncomfortable now and then (we have to remember that the instruments known to Mozart – and Rosetti – were not the same as their modern counterparts, and probably offered a lighter and less intense sound-palette).

But a “back-room boy” with an unerring grasp of the exact needs of today’s nine-piece wind ensemble dominated the rest of the evening. He is a master arranger named John Newhill, and to everyone’s pleasure he was present at the concert. His polished arrangements of Waldteufel’s Skaters’ Waltz, Sullivan’s Iolanthe Overture, and bandleader Larry Clinton’s Spooky Takes a Holiday, topped by his very creative “take” on themes from Jerry Bock’s Fiddler on the Roof, displayed the ensemble at its sparkling best, and sent the audience home delighted (after they had clapped in time, with commendable knowledge of what was correct, to that universal encore the Radetzy March).

HarmonieMusik: Sandra Lloyd (flute), Denise Burrows and Jackie Howard (oboes), Peter Hill and Valerie Warr (clarinets), Nic Hurst and Rob Howard (bassoons), Cliff Jones and Jenny da Costa (horns).