WITH a repertoire taking in classical music, classic carols and festive pop hits, the Highly Strung String Quartet provided an early festive concert for their attentive audience.
With music by such names as Bach, John Williams, Paul McCartney, The Pogues, Chris Rea and Mariah Carey along with some inventive arrangements, it gave the crowd an opportunity to enjoy some perhaps overly-familiar songs and tunes in a different light.
They started with the third movement of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, allowing the ensemble to show their musical pedigrees. With cellist Sarah Huson, viola player Sally Minchin and violinists Clair Stanley and Claire Turk, they had a full sound which made close attention to the tunes, and provided new colours.
The Carol of the Bells was given a suitably brooding reading, but pop music was given a new sheen too.
Chris Rea’s Driving Home for Christmas sounded different, with the breakdown in the middle being a particularly novel feature, as was The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York, where both the cello and the viola carried much of the tune.
The cello was also used well during Slade’s evergreen Merry Christmas Everybody and during many of the carols.
The audience were invited to join in for two carols, The First Nowell and a more rousing Twelve Days of Christmas.
Film music also featured, with selections from Harry Potter and The Polar Express.
A rousing blast of 12-bar boogie woogie blues was delivered in Chuck Berry’s Run Rudolph Run, while Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas was a showcase for the higher notes of the violin.
Elton John’s Step into Christmas and a concert closing Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney showed the challenge that many of the songwriters attempt in writing a festive hit that will played on the radio and in shopping centres for many years to come.