CHRISTOPHER SMITH St Andrew's Hall, Norwich

CHRISTOPHER SMITH

> St Andrew's Hall, Norwich

The annual family concert meant lively percussion from the yellow team and blazing brass in red, with blue shirts for the woodwind that added its special colour to the mix, while black-clad strings gave substance for a well-chosen programme that took us out and about in the world of music.

John Traill was the cheerful, confident conductor, Frances Allright led the orchestra, and CBBC's Jake Humphrey took the role of compere.

After King Palmer's rousing Sousa on Parade had turned the audience into a regiment of well-drilled clap-along Cassidys, his first task was to act as narrator in Paddington's First Concert. Composer Herbert Chappell turned the classic children's tale into a young person's guide to musical scene painting.

So, with a bit of help from exotic-sounding flutes, we made a brief visit to darkest Peru, emerging from the forests for a fiesta and then hearing the trains in the London terminus. Our journey ended at the Royal Albert Hall, with some whimsical musical jokes.

Norway was our next destination. There we enjoyed Anitra's Dance, and The Hall of the Mountain King, also from the Peer Gynt's Suite, was further proof of Greig's skill in creating vivid impressions.

Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance brought us home safely at the end of a programme that artfully mixed the thrills of the orchestra at full tilt with quieter, more delicate moments.