In Tune

I wasn't wrong yesterday when I predicted I would enjoy the evening of birdsong ahead. If anything I underestimated just how deeply satisfying it would prove to be. The performers, for the most part students from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, went well beyond the merely proficient and there were more than a few moments of deep joy. Just about the full twenty-three minutes of VW's Flos Campi answered to that description. Oh, and there was quite a bit of fun too.

Dr Casteels obviously saw the concert as being of an educational nature. The programme notes were a model of information delivered with enthusiasm and his spoken introductions were illuminating throughout. And his own pieces, three of them across the evening, sat well alongside the masters he'd selected. They were, all three, very modern in a sense that some might find pejorative, but appeals to me. Engaging enough on the surface to make up for the challenges they presented. Not a lot in the way of good tunes, but you can't have everything and they offered plenty in the way of other diversions - not least, fascinating sonorities.