THE choir's conductor, Ian Fox, had asked Derek Bourgeois to compose a piece and it was this, his seventh symphony, which highlighted the evening.

The First Two Thousand Years set to music the Seven Angels, Saxon Riddles, Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales and a bizarre collection of poems.

The result, teetered suspensefully between fire and water. Indeed it was the very accessibility of the piece that almost led to its downfall.

For Bourgeois, in presenting a wide cross-section of music, almost allowed it to become mired down in inconsistency of pattern and pace. There was robust, innovative energy in the Angels and clean-cut scoring and accurate tenor sounds from soloist Mark Wilde in the Riddles. Yet, the Chaucer was close to easy listening on a Sunday afternoon.

The final movement was a lively, entertaining and a cacophony of sound. The fine choir was more than a match for the composer's thoughts.

DG