THIS year’s Ryedale Festival closed with a hugely enjoyable Gala Concert, given by the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Violist Lawrence Power was the communicative soloist in Sally Beamish’s Third Viola Concerto, written for him in 2006. Its central section’s strongly rhythmic drive builds to an anxious climax that breaks off disturbingly and gives way to a return of the slow opening material. On one hearing, the work did not obviously depict specific episodes of the Gaelic narrative that inspired it, but it was involving nonetheless.

Beamish’s calm orchestration of Farewell To Stromness, Peter Maxwell Davies’s popular piano piece, which followed immediately, dwindles artfully from full strings to only two instruments: it would perhaps have been even more persuasive without the distraction of spare players clomping off the stage.

Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, for which violinist Bradley Creswick joined Power as soloist, was a delight. The performers’ enjoyment was palpable in the first movement’s sprightly, dancing rhythms. Remarkable depth of tone gave unusual force to the consoling wistfulness of the slow movement, after which the energetic finale acquired uncommon emotional weight without forfeiting its light heart.

Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, directed from the violin by Bradley Creswick, was given real swagger. Its second movement was taken at a proper allegretto, and the third was alertly agile. The finale’s tumultuous climax was as shattering as Beethoven could have wished, the brass section on top form without being raucous. After four curtain calls, it sent the audience on their way buzzing with excitement.