Natural exuberance and abundant melody then, in works by Beethoven, Britten, Mendelssohn and some catalogue Mozart. But an entirely modern angst from the orchestra's composer in residence, 21-year-old Michael Cutting, gave a dark and gripping core to the programme's sunny outer surface in the premiere of his Zintka, Lost Bird.

The nine-minute piece is ostensibly about the tragic life of a native American woman known as Zintka Nuni (lost bird) who was adopted by a white general after her tribe was massacred . She died in 1920 aged 29 from syphilis, isolated and caught between two worlds.

Cutting, in fact, retro-fitted his theme to already completed musical ideas after discovering Zintka on the internet and it was clear that the slow-moving, string-driven strata of his work were less literal than the confines of his chosen story.

Intense, almost static, emotional states shifting imperceptibly to another owed much to Ligeti, one of his main influences. Another influence, Messaien, was evident in a three- or four-note birdlike motif which fluttered in and out.

This was a confined mindscape punctuated by bursts of bewilderment and desperation but from which there was no escape, only expiry. A work of relentless focus and lovingly played by the Sinfonietta under the direction of Halle leader Lyn Fletcher.

In the Minster, where audience and players are almost toe-to-toe, old favourites are guaranteed some close-up revelations and elsewhere in Saturday's programme, Beethoven's First Symphony emphasised that he left no stone unturned at the start of his quest to transform symphonic thinking and Britten's Simple Symphony had rustic fun combined with not a little grandeur. Bravo.

Trevor Willis