Gillian Ansell's introduction on Sunday to Haydn's String Quartet Op 20 no 2 was a model of well-measured eloquence, launching a concert that would begin in an 18th-century drawing room and end in a 20th-century concert hall.
The New Zealand String Quartet had the Haydn to itself and, after some slightly unsettled intonation, the opening Moderato displayed all the zest and authority we have come to expect from these musicians.
Ansell had promised a touch of the operatic in the second movement and her colleagues followed it through with an appropriately theatrical dash.
The Minuetto came with a sense of humour that almost tipped into Scherzo territory; the final Fugue was modelled in silvery whispers.
Peter Scholes came on stage for Weber's Clarinet Quintet, praising the composer for taking on the challenge of the genre and promising us heaps of fun. It was just that, as Scholes rippled merrily through the showy passagework of the three fast movements.
