THE strength and charm of Viennese music is both vocal and orchestral and so Opera 74 and Bolton Symphony Orchestra vied for the audience's admiration at the Albert Halls on Saturday night.

These Viennese nights have a reputation to maintain and the audience in the packed hall clearly felt that this one had more than succeeded.

The orchestra was obliged the take the Thunder and Lightning Polka "from the top again" as the singers as well as the audience clapped enthusiastically in rhythm.

Musical director Paul Payton is a charismatic and expressive conductor and it was easy to imagine oneself at a court ball in Vienna. John Mathias and Ann Haslam introduced the evening's programme and took solos in a similar light-hearted manner.

The company is rich in soloists who are well able to adapt to an entertainment of this type.

Among the evening's best-received items were Jane Evans' singing of Vienna City of My Dreams and Alan Roscoe's version of the Richard Tauber "hit" Girls Were Made To Love and Kiss.

The Strauss family and Lehar were much in evidence, but there was also a reminder that Mozart was the composer to the imperial Court of Vienna, his Clarinet Concerto being charmingly played. The orchestra, in superb form, showed its versatility by providing a quintet on stage for a couple of items after the interval.

John Mathias brought the show to a close by leading the company in a toast to His Majesty, King Champagne, which one sees could easily become a tradition if the concert is to be an annual event. It certainly should be.

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