The glories of eighteenth-century music are, rightly and at last!, becoming more widely known these days. This welcome development is due at least in part to such groups as The Locrian Ensemble (http://www.locrianensemble.co.uk/index2.htm), which performs pieces from the period in venues up and down the country.

And how they do it! Lavishly arrayed in exotic period costume, Locrian performs with a panache, an intimacy and an excellent overall sense of musicianship that delights and entertains audiences wherever they go. Lancaster's Grand Theatre, originating from the 1780s when Mozart was arguable at the peak of his short career, makes an ideal venue for their offerings.

Locrian does not just give continuing concert tours; they have also recorded CDs and worked in the film industry. Their Musical Director Justin Pearson wittily and articulately introduced the programme item by item, and he pointed out that Locrian had recorded music for BBC1's "He Knew He Was Right', as well as for the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings. It's not often that Oscar-winners perform in Lancaster.

Their recent concert, performed by six string players, was a joy. The programme, introduced by Pearson, included well-known works from the German and Italian Baroque, as well as lesser-known gems. The evening began with The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba … in Lancaster (are oboists thin on the ground here? – Locrian's arrangement lacked the woodwind of the original) by Georg Friedrich Handel (1685 – 1759), which has graced many a bridal entrance.

Then followed the sublime Canon for three equal parts and continuo by Johann Pachelbel (1653 - 1706), and the well-known so-called ‘Christmas Concerto', or the Concerto Grosso in G minor Op 6 No 8 by Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713), the doyen of Roman musical life - he met and worked with Handel for a while there.

The curiously-named Three Bologna Movements by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) were refreshingly elegant, and presumably come from an Italian visit, perhaps in the composer's earlier years. Then it was more from Italy with the Concerto for 2 Violins in A minor Op 3 No 8 by il preto rosso (‘The Red Priest'), the red-haired Venetian cleric, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741). This piece is one of the composer's finest; JS Bach certainly thought so, as he arranged it for solo organ as one of his four organ concertos.

The second half consisted of just one work; Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or the Concertos for Solo Violin from Op 8, played with great sensitivity and passion by Rolf Wilson. It is not often one has the chance to hear these four much-loved pieces played in full in their temporal sequence, and Wilson's interpretation brought out nuances and detail that even these accustomed ears had not noticed before.

As a bonus, and in response to the rousing ovation from the audience, the ensemble rounded off the night with an encore, announced as An Old Polish Polka, which started off, I thought, as a nineteenth-century frippery in the manner of one of the minor members of the Strauss family. No – wrong! This turned out to be a skilful and tongue-in-cheek arrangement of Roll out the Barrel. The audience left with not only soothed and stimulated minds, but broad cheeky grins on their faces.

It was thus an evening of aural and visual ravishment which saw The Grand reasonably well filled – but not with the young. There were few there under 40. It is a crying shame that efforts are not being made to attract the young to such events, such as discount for students, publicity in schools and colleges, and reductions for parties. If music making of this quality is to survive the demise of its seeming elderly following, then it is vital to widen the appeal of such excellent and worthwhile productions.

Copyright © 9 June 2004 Michael Nunn