IT'S ALWAYS a pleasure to hear the London Mozart Players, an ensemble of extreme virtuosity.

This concert was no exception, with the Symphony No 31 in D (Paris) played with delicacy and finesse under the direction of Andrew Parrott.

The innovative part of the programme was a new 'family' work called the Crocodiamond, written by Anthony Horowitz, composed by Jonathan Dove and performed by actor Alex Jennings (apparently replacing Simon Callow).

This was a moderately entertaining Peter and the Wolf type piece, using the various instruments to represent characters in the story, which hinged around a daring jewel robbery at a London museum.

A pity really that there were few children in the audience, though to see any at all was heartening. The concert concluded with Mendelssohn's Symphony No 3 in A minor, the Scottish.

This symphony is a joy from start to finish, especially the bubbly vivace non troppo and the stirring final allegro maestoso assai.

My only caveat about this performance was that the work falls somewhere between being a chamber work and a full bodied symphony requiring a larger orchestra.

With the mandatory number of brass and woodwind players required, there seemed to be a shortage of strings, resulting in an slightly unbalanced sound favouring the wind instruments. It was an enjoyable concert played by musicians whose pedigree was never in doubt.