SNOW and its disruptive qualities that caused the postponement of the Allegri String Quartet’s visit last December were resolved in a revised and stimulating programme on Saturday.

Beethoven’s own arrangement of his Piano Sonata No.9 resulted in a new work; the String Quartet in F op.14 No.1. Beauty of line and tone from the players suggested a limpid liquidity that became even more songful in the gentle second movement. The finale’s lively Rondo-Allegro sparkled with melodic vitality and finesse.

Some years on and the Quartet in E flat op.74 shows Beethoven striving in the midst of the French bombardment of Vienna with a number of musical gestures that may well reflect the noises of war. The work’s nickname ‘Harp’ simply indicates some pizzicato effects, yet there are surprising turns from the first violin. The Adagio proved intensely emotive and the Allegri team’s robust energy in the Presto and affirmative finale were superbly defined.

“Now for some Payne,” quipped Rafael Todes, second violin, introducing Anthony Payne’s String Quartet No.2. (2010). With Ofer Falk, violin Dorothea Vogel, viola and Katherine Jenkinson, cello, this single movement work sparked assertively diverse statements from each player that, like any meeting of minds, attained an amicable resolution of differences, happily evaporating in harmonious accord.