A Night of Masterpieces, Bolton Choral Union, Victoria Hall, Bolton. A BEAUTIFULLY bound vocal score for a Bolton Choral Union concert in 1923 was recently unearthed, and provided the inspiration for this very enjoyable evening.

The Union adhered as faithfully as possible to the original score: Understandable, because it was very well thought out and, 74 years later, is still extremely entertaining.

The cause was helped by two musicians of high pedigree - pianist John Wilson and violinist Baz Barker - who obliged us with performances of very a high calibre.

Tenor Andrew Lockwood, with his fast vibrato got better as the evening went on, reaching a fitting climax with the World Cup favourite by Puccini, Nessun Dorma. Andrew is a young man with much talent and a very attractive voice. The same could also be said of Suzannah Clarke who charmed us as only sopranos do, particularly with Puccini's O mio, babbino caro, which fittingly she dedicated to her watching father.

But what of the chorus? Yes, they were very good, guided by the skilful hand of conductor Michael Greenhalgh, whose body language and resistence of the temptation to do some melo-dramatic mad-conductor-like head waving I found

especially pleasing.

The chorus put in Mendelssohn's Elijah, which was not in the original programme 74 years ago, but it was a popular work at their performance in March, and it was easy to hear why.

A highly successful evening, even if the Victoria Hall wasn't bursting at the seams. Nick Jackson

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.