The Dome, Brighton, 14 February 2016

A Valentine’s Day concert and one of the largest audiences for a good while. Perhaps it was the popular programme which drew the numbers? It was certainly all very familiar and given with the enthusiasm to which we have become accustomed under Barry Wordsworth.

The afternoon opened with Berlioz’ reworking of Weber’s Invitation to the Dance – made famous in the early twentieth century when Nijinsky appeared as the Spectre de la Rose, covered in imitation rose petals, exiting the stage through a window with what was long held to be the finest jete in the history of ballet.

To calm us down a little we then heard the Intermezzo from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. This is a miniature master-piece and lovingly played by the strings.

The heart of the afternoon came with Melvyn Tang joining the orchestra in Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. His cheeky good-humour belies the phenomenal technique and experience he brings to the work, making it sound charmingly easy. The gently flowing tempo of the Larghetto led straight into the joy of the final Allegro with the lightest of touches for the flourishes of the final pages.

He played a romantic Liszt encore and we could have easily stayed for more.

This being Valentine’s Day, he was presented with the usual soloist’s bottle at the end – plus a dozen red roses!

After the interval the single work in the second half was Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Almost over familiar thanks to Classic FM, it is nonetheless a good excuse for the orchestra to show off its range of colour, which it did with ease.

The penultimate concert this season brings us Brahms, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn under Howard Shelley on Sunday 20 March.