TO play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as four separate pieces seemed quite a good idea; to play it the way the OAE did was approaching genius.

There is little doubt that stroke of genius came from their ebullient, effervescent driving director Kati Debretzeni. What was remarkable was that she fused into that well-known, even well-loved, quartet of pieces inflections, phrasing, emphases that you’d never noticed before. Doors were opened, new emotions broached; it became new music. Quite stimulating.

And what about the lilting, foot-tapping beat of the waltz? I fear only someone with that Eastern European vein could get that first beat so crucially right. Miss Debretzeni seems to be the natural embodiment of this genre. 

I wondered at first whether there was too much fire, too much pace. How enjoyable to be proved wrong.

So, to make the cup run over on an evening of wonderful surprises, Matthew Rose was a giant of a baritone, with a golden, treacle tone; a range to die for and volume and power to match. 

Telemann’s Kanarienvogel Kantate, a bitter condemnation of a moggy that has killed his pet canary, was pure theatre. Rose’s seemingly casual approach, his almost laconic candour, was simply hilarious.