“Viennese” concerts always draw an audience, but this one by Alan Free and the St. Helens Sinfonietta had more drawing-power than most, and was duly crowded.

It rocketed away with a true Johann Strauss feast – the spectacular Overture to Die Fledermaus, the Tritsch Tratsch Polka, and the magnificent Emperor Waltz, a rich procession of intoxicating tunes with military as well as romantic overtones. The soloist of the evening was the vivacious soprano Debbie Bennett, a native of St. Helens, whose gorgeous voice, flawless technique and fine musicianship are at the service of her supreme talent for communication. The inevitable Vilia (Lehár – magic as always) and Laughing Song (Strauss), both beautifully sung, massaged our sense of being “at home” in this concert. The waltzes and polkas continued.

More bravura followed the interval: a fine parade of hit tunes from Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. After this the second half began to sag a little. If the programme is over-long, hints of fatigue and/or under-rehearsal may creep in. It was, and they did. Morning Papers is anyway one of the least inspired of the Strauss waltz-sequences, and could well have been omitted, as could the geographically suspect Brahms item. The evening would still have been unusually long.

When, however (as half past nine approached), Debbie Bennett appeared again, the concert swung back into overdrive. Her Mozart offering – the Countess’s solo scene from The Marriage of Figaro, helpfully introduced in English and spellbindingly sung in Italian – reminded us of that earlier Viennese era. She followed it with a coruscating show-stopper by Lehár, On My Lips Every Kiss is like Wine, brilliantly performed and hugely applauded. Then, as a quirky encore, By Strauss by Gershwin. Another ovation. What a star!

And the traditional Blue Danube/Radetzky March ending was still to come. Value for money indeed!