Concert review by John Ticehurst Rarely can a Chard audience been better served by a visiting ensemble of musicians than we were on Monday August 13 at St Mary's Church .

The Visitors were a Chamber Orchestra, part of the Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, which is special in several ways. It is the only truly independent Orchestra in Germany, and unlike most Orchestras these days, gets no subsidies from the taxes of any country. They must live by their abilities alone, which may give their playing an extra edge.

The Chamber Orchestra visiting Chard was made up of Musicians from Italy, Germany, Poland, Latvia, and Sweden. I imagine that English was their common language--as well as music, of course.

They obviously enjoyed playing together; and it was also clear that they listened to each other while they were playing, and all of them were, or could be, soloists in their own right. They played Boccherini's Cello concerto, a Vivaldi violin Concerto, Elgar's Serenade for strings, a Mozart Divertimento, and perhaps most brilliantly of all, J.S.Bach's Second Suite for Flute and strings.

Eva Tonemann, from Germany made the flute sing and dance, and the audience was so enamoured of the playing that the applause went on and on until two encores had been played by the end of the evening.

They call themselves The Young Cologne New Philharmonic, and if they ever return to Chard, anyone who heard them last Monday will certainly be there to listen and learn from their brilliant performance.