A wonderful weekend was commenced with a quite entertaining concert given by our National Orchestra at the MCC on Saturday evening.

Starting with a very pleasant and refreshing account of Bizet's delightful 2nd Suite from L'Arleslienne, this orchestra, under Michael Laus, continues to impress.

I can only reiterate the impression left on me before, which is that these players seem to listen to each other, such that good chording throughout the departments is well-balanced.

How much this area of orchestral execution is practised at during rehearsals I have no idea, but the result is very pleasant indeed.

The flute and harp passages of the Menuet were touchingly restrained, and maybe the concluding bars of the final Farandole could have had a touch more devil-may-care attitude about it, but the performance was no less thrilling for that.

I am no expert on the clarinet, but I thought Godfrey Mifsud's account of Spohr's rarely heard Clarinet Concerto was first class.

I was listening to this work for the first time, but throughout had the impression that behind the thinly-veiled façade of the courtly, gentlemanly, refined behaviour, there was much work going on in the background, which Mr Mifsud despatched with not a worry.

I was reminded of the reference to the swan, maybe apocryphal, the creature looking calm and in full control gliding gently above the surface, but just below, working feverishly and frantically for forward propulsion!

Mr Mifsud's applause, and also for the orchestra's gentle background support, was fully deserved.

I expected a wash of sound in the Berlioz Harold in Italy in the second half from this orchestra, slowly achieving virtuosic standards to my ears, yet nothing happened. Berlioz's envision of an aural orgy, orgiastic in conception, maniacal in execution, was indeed exciting, but in reality should have been riveting. We may occasionally correctly conclude that the characteristic sound of an ensemble is a direct reflection of the length and breadth of the shadow of the man who directs it, so if Maestro Laus is always in full control of his equanimity, we can hardly expect the sparks to fly off the manuscript paper - and yet, I consider Maestro Laus too intelligent an individual for him to see this music within such solipsistic parameters.

Whence then the temperance in this most revolutionary of music from this most creatively original of composers?

Can Maestro Laus really see this work in such a pusillanimous way? After the gentle and consummate second movement, a little rushed for my liking, and a rustic third movement, the finale should be ushered in with a crashing through the door, but here instead was just a gentle almost apologetic tap on the door.

Still, the enthusiastic applause that greeted the final crashing chords clearly showed the performance had an effect on the audience.

I do sometimes wish though that Prof. Laus sometimes lets his hair down and gives the players, particularly in this instance, the timpani, free rein.

A wonderful weekend was therefore had by all, even complimented on Sunday by my team lifting the English Carling Cup! What a joy it is to be alive! The only very small fly on the ointment was the disappointing turnout for the concert. I guess programme planning is a perennial problem, for what to do - perform the well-known pot-boilers, the mainstream repertoire, or expand one's horizons and include sometimes works which are slightly off the beaten track? I'm glad I'm not the one that has to make that decision!