This was the sixth and final concert in Newark and District Music Club’s 66th season and it was a sheer delight.

Conducted by Jacques Cohen, the 20 musicians played as one and you could tell they enjoyed the music.

The concert began with Elgar’s Serenade For Strings In E Minor, in three movements.

Next came Romance by Sibelius, a short but dark piece that gave the cellists and basses a chance to shine.

Brahms’ Sonata In F Minor, Op 120 No 1, featured soloist Anna Hashimoto, who made her clarinet sing.

This piece had been arranged for clarinet and strings by Cohen and we were only the second audience to hear it.

Anna played the piece from memory, using rich tones, tutting, melody and fast fingerwork to shape the piece.

After the interval we heard Grieg’s 2 Elegiac Melodies and Serenade For Strings by Dvorak whose melodies and rhythms were influenced by Czech folk music.

After rousing applause, there was an encore of Old Castle from Mussorsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition — DAB.