It’s ‘pop’ - but not as we know it...

Halle Orchestra, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Saturday’s concert was the latest in a series of “Pop” concerts at the Bridgewater Hall, offering the chance for people to see a world-class symphony orchestra performing popular music.

The title of this concert was “Dancing All Over the World,” and brought, as it suggests, music from composers across the globe, primarily written for dancing.

The varied programme explored favourites from all types of dance, from ballet and the ballroom, to musicals and the opera.

And the sounds evoked images of dancers swirling and leaping in colourful costume, conjured from the strains of the orchestra and plunging the listener into a world of gaiety from days gone by.

The evening unfolded in the capable hands of John Wilson, a conductor with an affable charm and undoubted skill and expertise in getting the very best out of musicians.

The playing was crisp and precise, and carried out with enthusiasm and joy, making it a thoroughly enjoyable evening which flew by, despite there being 17 pieces of music on the programme.

The concert started with Leroy Anderson’s “Belle of the Ball”, exactly three-and-a-half minutes long, composed in 1951 at the time of a burgeoning record industry, so it would fit onto the old “78s” vinyl record.

It was followed by the gay and cheery “Mazurka” from the ballet “Coppelia”, which never fails to lift the soul, then Luigi Boccherini’s “Minuet in A major”.

Anyone unused to classical music may be forgiven for having no idea as to how some of the tunes will sound, but the moment the orchestra launches into the piece it is immediately recognisable.

This minuet was used in the 1955 comedy “The Ladykillers,” and is as familiar as most of the renditions played during the concert.

Other famous pieces included music composed by Brahms, Johann Strauss, Rossini, Bizet and Dvorak — his composition chosen was a Slavonic Dance in E minor, his most popular, and which often pops up as a mobile telephone ringtone.

The concert was peppered with information provided by Wilson, related with his charming sense of humour before he leaps into action enticing and cajoling the orchestra to follow his every instruction.

The concert ended with a Strauss composition which needed no introduction, the king of waltzes, the ever-popular “Blue Danube”.

Wilson said he couldn’t think of anything lovelier to leave his audience with than a waltz, and there was no better waltz than the “Blue Danube,” a sentiment I couldn’t agree with more, and was well worth the wait to hear.

The appreciative audience demanded an encore, and Wilson swept back on stage to oblige, leading the orchestra through a lively arrangement of “Mambo No. 5”.