THE Hereford concert of this year’s Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival was given in the grand drawing room of the Bishop’s Palace, a perfect venue for chamber music, with a fine Yamaha grand piano.

The audience was treated to performances of great artistry and phenomenal technique, most notably in the highly-charged sonata for violin and piano by the Romanian composer George Enescu.

This work is a fusion of a folk-music style with virtuoso writing for both instruments, the violinist Benjamin Nabarro employing harmonics, glissandi, quarter-tones and other expressive effects.

The well-rehearsed ensemble with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips was impeccable. The other big work in the programme was the Clarinet Trio by Brahms, in which cellist Amy Norrington and pianist Alasdair Beatson were joined by the eminent clarinettist Matthew Hunt, the solo clarinet of the German Chamber Orchestra, whose playing was another highlight of the evening.

The concert began with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, beautifully sung by baritone Ivan Ludlow and lovingly accompanied by the festival’s founder-director Daniel Tong; and we heard a little known piano trio by the same composer, based on some Welsh song-tunes given quaint English texts which were presented with gentle amusement by the same singer, retreating modestly from the limelight.

Michael Smith