THE Allegri Quartet enthralled with its outstanding performance.

Work by Tippett was alongside Purcell and Beethoven, an arrangement Nicholas Cleobury had assured us in his morning lecture would have delighted the composer.

String Quartet No.2 in F sharp, by Tippett, was accomplished with intelligent authority, meeting the dramatic demands with skilful musicianship. From the outset, mutual thought ensured absolute unanimity, the four ever listening and watchful, the polyphonic playing a joy.

In the first allegro, the cello added power as rising arpeggio figures rose to its highest registers. A haunting andante produced an intense build-up of emotion and diminished again, as the first violin emerged in beauty.

Abrupt pauses within the presto and a lovely viola melody, then wild passion amid lyricism prefaced a serene end to Tippett's 'towering masterpiece'.

In Beethoven's String Quartet in D major, Op.18, No.3, the first violin led cheerfully through the opening allegro, an agile, melodious movement. Meticulous playing in andante con moto varied between being wistful and whimsical and, in the third movement allegro, the second violin expressed accented bulges of decoration. A rapid start to the presto by the first violin soon had the rest joining in virtuoso fashion, concluding a class performance.

Three Fantazias, by Purcell, had opened, and Crisantemi by Puccini, a beautiful piece wherein the musicians achieved the finest pianissimos of the day, was encore.

JILL HOPKINS