ELGAR'S Sospiri provided the title for the festival’s latest adventure, which was built around song-cycles by Britten, Tippett and Elgar himself. But it opened fittingly with Elgar’s only Violin Sonata, written exactly a century ago.

The Swiss violinist Rachel Kolly d’Alba was partnered here by another festival stalwart, the pianist Katya Apekisheva. Their naturally assertive temperaments might have proved explosive. Instead, they submerged their instincts into a superb blend, several times accelerating in taut tandem.

Where D’Alba’s violin was sweet-toned at the top, even under pressure, she found rich resonance in her lower range during the central Romance. She injected welcome urgency into the finale, keeping something in reserve for a majestic coda. Apekisheva was with her every step of the way. They delivered a gently heartfelt Sospiri in semi-darkness to end the evening.

The tenor Ben Vonberg-Clark brought an intense, baritonal resonance to Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, cleverly building each song towards its important final gesture. Yet he was also contrastingly tender in the upper range. Had he used no score he might have been more persuasive in the often jagged lines of Tippett’s The Heart’s Assurance, but he was sensitive to key words. Adam Johnson’s piano complemented him nicely in both cycles.

Anna Huntley’s now ample mezzo-soprano was nobly suited to Elgar’s Sea Pictures. She was wistful in Where Corals Lie and wonderfully tempestuous in The Swimmer, even though Johnson’s accompaniment was determinedly orchestral.