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Catrin Finch was the harpist in Gabriel Pierné's Concertstück for harp and orchestra, delivering a combination of sweet melody and glittering passagework with customary aplomb.

The harp's association with angels in the Concertstück hinted at Christmas, and there was no doubting the sense of festivity in Samuel Barber's Die Natali, Chorale Preludes for Christmas, which began the programme, and Leroy Anderson's Christmas Festival, which completed it.

His Concertstück was written for the great Polish pianist Paderewski, who gave the first performance in 1900.

The Concertstück for Four Horns is a rarely performed curiosity in which Robert Schumann treated the valve horn, the new invention of the era, rather like a test pilot might treat a new aircraft, with a series of alarming ascents and loops that court disaster but can be breathtaking when they come off.

Though the “Spring Fantasie” is in undoubted cantata form, Gade designates it as a “Concertstück;” that is, a musical composition in which the instrumental parts are essential to its complete unity.