The EUCO – directed by Darragh Morgan – make a welcome return to Shropshire with a programme that will also celebrate Vaughan Williams in this, the 150th anniversary of his birth.

An evening of superb music for strings is offered by the ever-excellent European Union Chamber Orchestra. Three pieces by English string music masters are contrasted against a most engaging Baroque concerto.

J S Bach’s concerto for violin and oboe offers a crystalline palette-cleanser to the richer tones of Vaughan Williams, Britten and Elgar. The Bach offers perfection of form with ever-inventive melody contrasted and supported with the most ingenious contrapuntal harmony in support.

The three pieces of English music for strings come from three very different composers: Britten’s Simple Symphony draws upon themes and ideas that he had in his youth. Its four movements offer some significant technical challenges to the players, from the often-tricky pizzicato writing of the second movement to the impassioned, gutsy highly emotional writing of the third. By contrast, Elgar’s Elegy, written to mark the passing of a number of members of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, while full of passion, is nevertheless imbued with a slight restraint. This may have been due to the time in which it was composed, or its dedication, or simply the way that so much of Elgar’s music belies a fervour that is always just below the surface. As another nod to the 150th anniversary of his birth, the Vaughan Williams’s Concerto Grosso is written for three groups of players, designated by skill and experience. The concept of the Concerto Grosso comes from Baroque times and sees Vaughan Williams casting his mind back in a similar way to how he had with his Tallis Fantasia.