This concert was advertised with the title Screen Heroes. The heroes that we expect on the cinema screen are very diverse, so specimen titles were listed, including Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible and a number of others. Evidently this could mean vigorous physical heroes, mostly men, often associated with dates near to our own day; and so it turned out. But not all heroes in the history of cinema, let alone in literature (from which many film plots are derived) are male, nor vigorously physical, so a large proportion of screen history, with female heroes, was not represented.

There was no printed programme. Normally the audience would rely on this for the titles of the music and the names of composers, leading players in the orchestra and other worthwhile information, but this time there were only the brief introductory remarks to each piece by the conductor, Carl Davis. Emphasising that the nature of the evening's entertainment largely depended on him, he conducted the first half in a scarlet frock coat and the second in a longer coat of glittering gold. He spoke enthusiastically about the good fortune of the Watford audience in having, at the Colosseum, a concert hall famous for its excellent acoustics - although unfortunately, even with this advantage, his remarks could not always be clearly heard. He conducted with clarity, and the Philharmonia Orchestra responded with enthusiasm. The choice of screen music played gave special opportunities to the brass and the percussion.

Music from Pirates of the Caribbean set the tone for much of the music that followed. It was mostly loud with fast march rhythms. Whether the characters in this sort of story, such as it is, should be regarded as heroes is perhaps questionable, but the music provided simple and powerful entertainment. Another theme, surely familiar to everyone though some half-century old, was from Laurence of Arabia. The James Bond story Dr. No is also from some time ago and set in the Caribbean; ever since, the Bond stories (both the original thriller novels and the films that are increasingly loosely based on them) have featured a hero characteristic of a certain kind of violent and erotic story. This one is set in Jamaica, so there were special opportunities for the percussion section. Another hero who comes with familiar music is Harry Potter. His stories, and the music that comes with them, may not be very profound, but with a child hero they offered a different kind of musical entertainment.

Many of the films represented were, naturally, American - the Wild West or the West Indies - so in somewhat repetitious styles; but far from all. Ghostbusters and Superman, for instance, provided music that was more original and interesting. Most of the music was from popular films made in the last few years.

A longer perspective would have provided an opportunity, in this year of the Agincourt anniversary, for the classic sequence of the knights' cavalry charge in Olivier's Henry V with music by William Walton. Depending on your tastes in film as well as music, would you have welcomed that wider scope?

Graham Mordue