From the first bowstroke I surmised that this would be an exceptional recital and I was not disappointed. The 21-year-old cellist Gerald Peregrine is still pursuing his studies, but he has the gift of sharing a composer's inspiration and this enables him to present the music in all its freshness, its full emotional charge intact.
Bach's Sonata No. 2, originally written for viola da gamba and harpsichord could hardly have sounded better and Deborah Kelleher at the piano played with discreet refinement and telling reciprocity.
This was music to get lost in, savouring the pensive melancholy of the slow movements and enjoying the athletic vigour of the fast ones.
Even more compelling was Prokofiev's substantial Sonata with its surprising changes of mood, ranging from deepest gloom to hectic merriment, punctuated by calmly lyrical episodes. The two instrumentalists gave the work an all-over coherence without losing any of its abruptness.
Schumann's Fantasie-Stucke and Chopin's Polonaise Brilliante, works whose romanticism can nowadays seem slightly suspect, were played with persuasive warmth and admirable technical dexterity: the showy exuberance of Chopin's Polonaise was particularly striking.