'Three titans of German music and culture', as the informative programme notes put it, made up the concert programme on Sunday evening. Under the odd pseudo-Baroque ceiling of the Chelsea Town Hall, the Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra played Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto Number 2 in E flat, and Beethoven's Eighth Symphony.
       Perhaps it was fitting that, despite Wagner's extreme Germanness and the extraordinary diversity of age, nationality and character of the orchestra members, the Idyll sounded as if it could almost have been written by an English composer, or perhaps by 'a better Delius', as my neighbour commented afterwards. It was full of the countryside and spring, although it was first performed as a combined Christmas and birthday present for Cosima Wagner, played by musicians standing on the stairs of the Wagners' home.
       Pip Eastop, principal horn with the London Chamber Orchestra, and regular guest principal horn with the London Philharmonic, Halle and other orchestras, played the horn in the Strauss Concerto. Anyone who had come believing that the horn was brassy and boastful was happily surprised. Eastop played with wonderful melliflousness and grace, beautifully interweaving with the other instruments.
       But the most exhilarating, and over-all professional, piece of the evening was Beethoven's Eighth Symphony, which is absurdly neglected in comparison with the famous Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Ninth. Rarely have I heard the pure joy of parts of it rendered so blissfully, and with such loving dedication, as by the members, young and old, of the Kensington Philharmonic. I heard another member of the audience say, 'Of course, it's much more enjoyable than seeing the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall, and you get a front seat and a full view of the players.' I could only agree.
       (The next concert by the Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra is on Sunday 21st June at Chelsea Town Hall, and consists of Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture, Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No 2 opus 22, Brahms' Symphony No 4.)
Jane O'Grady