THE theatre was looking good – beautifully lit stage with a velvety black backdrop spangled with silver stars and cleverly angled beams of soft lights fading from deep rose to misty sparkling greyish white, setting the scene for the London Concertante.

Unfortunately no programme details were available.

This is really a small chamber orchestra, formed in 1991, which has gone from strength to strength, with more than 100 concerts per year to its credit. The players seemed to have a great rapport with each other, and also with the audience.

The Prelude to Capriccio by Richard Strauss opened the programme, with a beautiful flowing melody and superb dramatic effects, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence.

This started with some very dramatic, almost constant double stopping, displaying incredible musical gymnastics as the instruments chased each other.

The second movement opened with a sweetly played violin solo backed up by the whole ensemble, the theme quickly rising from a soft beginning to a bright crescendo before again diminishing.

This lovely piece, full of variety and colour, was superbly performed by the Concertante.

Mendelssohn’s Octet is a beautifully melodic work composed when he was just 15 years old, and it was jokingly described by the orchestra leader as “really a violin concerto with the other seven of us just tootling along”. However, in defence of the seven in question, the "tootling" was very demanding and skilful "tootling" indeed, and altogether a rivetingly good performance.

Enthusiastic applause was rewarded by the orchestra leader who asked “who would like to hear Martin (the soloist) again, playing really fast?” And "yes, we would" resulted in a terrific performance of the well-known Czardas, which almost brought the house down.

Irene MacDonald