Miloš delivers Spanish heat at The Anvil ... though a lot less than expected

The popularity of the UK's Classic FM ... which treats classical music like the modern stuff, with song-length excerpts of the best bits and chart countdowns ... shows that bringing pop music marketing to the classical music scene works wonders.  The industry needs to be careful, however, or this strategy can backfire.

I'm thinking of a clear case of bait and switch in the marketing of the Miloš Karadaglić concert in

Basingstoke last night.

The Anvil, a surprisingly good arts centre in the heart of town, regularly hosts classical music within its broad repertoire.  It's a wonderfully intimate space, with top tickets the price of cheap ones in London, and a commute time of five minutes for us.  When we saw Miloš, one of our favourite classical guitarists, heavily promoted as being in concert, we snapped up the tickets.

The reality:  an evening with the English Chamber Orchestra, with Karadaglić as guest artist playing two pieces:  Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and a short romance.  A limited role in the programme is fairly standard stuff in traditional classical concerts, but the posters clearly promised a night with the 30-year-old star.

I can picture the discussion in the marketing department now.  "We need to appeal to a broader audience, and this kid is hot.  Just look at him.  We'll promote him like a rock star, and the young girls will flock in."

Karadaglić is, indeed, exceptionally easy on the eye.  He's also wonderfully talented.  Born in Montenegro, he won a Royal Academy of Music Scholarship in London and signed his first record contract in 2011.  His most recent album, Latino Gold, is both soothing and evocative of warmer, more exotic climates.  It's a favourite summer soundtrack of mine at the moment.  Added to all that, he seems to be a genuinely pleasant guy, who comes across well on TV interviews and appeared to have a strong rapport with the conductor and the orchestra last night.

His performance was assured and confident, bringing two very familiar pieces to glowing life.  Some classical music doesn't sound that different in performance than it does at home on a good sound system.  Not so the Rodrigo concerto, to which Karadaglić gave a whole new layer of depth and resonance.  In the cosy confines of the Anvil, about 20 rows back from the stage, we were also treated to the fascinating drama of his flying hands magically stroking sound out of his instrument.  I don't think there's anything quite as much fun to actually watch people play.

In the wider programme the orchestra continued the Mediterranean theme with Rossini's Overture from the Italian Girl in Algiers , Falla's Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo (it may not sound familiar, but you'd probably know it if you heard it) and Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (No. 4) in its entirety.  I enjoyed the latter just as much as the guest star.  It's popular enough that all four movements were familiar, but I don't think I'd ever heard it as a complete symphony.  It's an exquisite piece, wrapping up an evening that left me feeling like I'd been sitting in some bouganvilla-draped courtyard drinking sangria and fanning away the heat.

So no disappointment for me, despite my surprise at young Karadaglić's brief appearance.  And did the marketing ploy work in the end?  I fear not.  Most of the upper balcony was empty, and the audience was solidly our age and above.  No teeny boppers swooning over the guitarist, despite his swarthy good looks.

I suppose the pop approach only takes you so far.