HarmonieMusik, the wind-players of St Helens Sinfonietta, get better and better, both in their playing and their programming.
On Saturday at the URC (with its newly refurbished, more-accessible entrance) they produced a veritable delight of styles, moods and groupings of the nine players to keep a good-sized audience constantly diverted and entertained.

From the familiar ‘Slavonic Dance No 8’ (Dvorak) we moved on to the demanding intricacies of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s ‘Three Sea Shanties’, constantly-inventive arrangements which never let the audience settle into complacent familiarity.

Then the group reduced to four, playing a short Rossini Sonata in three movements, rearranged for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon – a delightful piece.

A complete contrast concluded the first half. Gounod’s ‘Petite Symphonie’ in four movements, is rightly a favourite of the group. With two bassoons and two horns, one might expect it to sound bottom-heavy, but Gounod uses them to give a deep, rich context for the oboes and clarinets – ‘rich dark chocolate with nuts and fruit in’. And there was a delightful motif in the Scherzo which reminded me of Sullivan’s music, great fun.

We came back to a trio, flute, oboe and clarinet, playing more Arnold, his exquisite ‘Divertimento’, six brief but inventive sections of delights, contrasting textures, tempi and motifs. Beautiful playing and co-ordination.

A more traditional Beethoven Octet seemed quite subdued by contrast, and perhaps in the larger group with longer sections one can detect a slight tendency to drift into a ‘comfort zone’ as regards tempo and dynamics. Enjoyable nonetheless.
And suddenly we were finishing with a wonderful medley from ‘Oliver!’ – those oh-so-familiar tunes wrapped up in just enough decoration and ornamentation to keep us guessing slightly as to what came next.

The delighted audience applauded loudly and were treated to an encore, ‘Dance of the Comedians’ from Smetana's "The Bartered Bride", familiar cheer to see us on our way home.

Players: Sandra Lloyd (flute), Denise Burrows and Jackie Howard (Oboes), Peter Hill and Valerie Warr (Clarinets), Cliff Jones and Jenny da Costa (Horns), Rob Howard and Linton Stephens (Bassoons).