Feng Ning and Michael Houstoun at the Town Hall Concert Chamber

I can't remember when I last saw the Town Hall Concert Chamber filled to capacity as it was for Monday's outstanding recital by violinist Feng Ning and pianist Michael Houstoun.

Their opening Bach Sonata melted our hearts from the first phrase of its Siciliano. Perhaps the Back-to-Baroque brigade might sniff at Steinways and lashings of rubato but Ning's phrasing and tonal control were unimpeachable - at times his bow seemed to barely move on the string.

Ning's violin seemed to emerge out of Houstoun's zither-like tremolos for Schubert's Fantasy in C. This is late and eccentric Schubert, but the two men sailed through zesty Hungarian dancing and volatile harmonic shifts with ease.

Faure's A major Sonata revealed a partnership made in chamber music heaven; Ning's line certainly soared in that direction. The slow movement was a tremulous breath, the third a breathless game of tag, transformed by some musical alchemy into a vertiginous waltz.

Paganini's Le Streghe Variations might have been a built-in encore. Ning was certainly unsparing in his virtuosity and Houstoun no less so in the occasional flourish.

In fact, three frothy encores came forth, the highlight being a trip to the land of Helmut Zacharias with a palpitating Hora staccato.

Such consummate artistry is rare in our concert halls. The pair play Rotorua tonight and Hamilton Thursday, with Chausson's Poeme standing in for the Bach. So ... there is still a chance to catch them.