MUSIC is the best medicine. Dragging myself off my sickbed on Saturday afternoon, I really had no expectation of leaving the Barbican after two hours feeling refreshed and invigorated. I should have known better.

The menu for this family concert was dances by Johann Strauss the Younger, lightly seasoned with Lehár, film scores by York’s own John Barry and Prokofiev’s Peter And The Wolf. A better tonic would be hard to imagine. York Guildhall Orchestra under Simon Wright was on cracking form and an all-age audience lapped it up.

Lynne Dawson, YGO’s president and another illustrious Yorkie, was at her most engaging as narrator in Prokofiev’ orchestral fairy tale, colouring her tones magically. The players followed suit, with the woodwind principals notably distinctive and the horn trio’s Wolf appropriately menacing.

Much of the Strauss was enlivened by seven organised dancing couples on the wings, including a pair of youngsters, joined informally by others from the audience. Tritsch-Tratsch Polka had extra panache and the brass were supercharged in the build-up to Lehár’s Gold And Silver Waltz, which had a fizzing finale. The bass drummer interpreted Thunder And Lightning pretty literally and later popped several "corks" in the Champagne Polka with equal elan. The violins especially relished Barry’s sweeping melodies from Out Of Africa and Born Free.

It was all terrific fun, topped off with the Radetzky March as encore. This concert really should become an annual tradition. Beats cough syrup any day.