Tamsin Waley-Cohen speaks in a booklet-note of the coloratura temperament of the solo violin line in Mendelssohn’s D minor Concerto, a characteristic that comes through engagingly and with graceful, tasteful spirit in her performance with the Orchestra of the Swan. There does, indeed, seem to be an Italianate operatic stimulus to the music here, both in terms of the lyricism and acrobatics accorded to the soloist and in the lively rapport it enjoys with the orchestra, which is especially acute, immediate and sympathetic in the Swan’s playing under David Curtis. This is early, pre-Octet Mendelssohn, marrying as it does a Classical perspective with a Romantic flourish, but this performance sizzlingly draws attention to the preternatural gifts of invention and lithe craftsmanship that Mendelssohn possessed even at the age of 13.

Two decades later, in the E minor Concerto, he was to do away almost entirely with the orchestral introduction but in the earlier concerto and in the one for piano and violin, also in D minor, he followed convention. There is nothing conventional, however, about the way in which the Orchestra of the Swan bring the music ear-catchingly alive, with string lines mellifluously shaped, accents crisp, the dynamic spectrum purposefully explored. Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins take their cue from the orchestra in giving an exuberant performance of the Piano and Violin Concerto. You’d never guess that it was tricky stuff to coordinate: all the witty repartee is there, as is the charm, the brilliance, the drama and the infectious sense of fun.