BSO + Dorset Rusty and Not So Rusty Musicians, Lighthouse, Poole

Take one large concert hall, carefully remove all traditional seating and fill with a vast orchestra and, hey presto, you have an acoustic cauldron fit for a witches' sabbath, and believe me this was no dream. Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique concocted this orchestral nightmare, along with the March to the Scaffold in all its perambulating bravado.

With 124 young and not-so-young players, plus the seasoning of a handful or two of BSO musicians, the thrill of performance bubbled like a hot pot. Boasting 23 clarinets and 17 flutes, the finale of Shostakovich's Fifth has never seemed so terrifying as in this performance conducted by Ian Pillow.

The Dorset Youth Jazz Band put on a terrific post interval set highlighting in a Trenet and Lasry song, Beyond the Sea, with superbly seductive singing from Sam Merrick.

Lancelot Fuhry stirred the melting pot in Gershwin's colourful carnival parade, the Cuban Overture and took the pedagogic sounding Academic Festival Overture by Brahms as an example of the finer points of musicianship attainable from this huge ensemble.

The encore, in Ron Goodwin's old stamping ground, was his magnificent 633 Squadron.