Clare Hammond’s lunchtime piano recital began with one famous baroque work – JS Bach’s Italian Concerto – and ended with Maurice Ravel’s tribute to another great Baroque composer – Le Tombeau De Couperin.

In between she played an eclectic selection of relatively modern pieces.

Clare Hammond introduced each piece and described Bach’s Italian Concerto as light and joyful, which applies equally to her playing of it. In her hands this harpsichord music sounds as if it might indeed have been written for the piano.

Ed Hughes’s Orchid No 5 received its world premiere. Its melody has echoes of plainsong and its beautiful style is reminiscent of Debussy, though with more muscular rhythms.

Alberto Ginestra wrote his Danzas Argentinas to celebrate the gaucho or cowboy as the epitome of Argentina. Clare played three of these evocative Dances – the Old Herdsman, the Beautiful Maiden and Arrogant Cowboy, which calls for great virtuosity and ends with a spectacular up and down glissando that Clare brought off in brilliant but unfussy style.

Kenneth Hesketh’s Horae were written for Clare, who performed the last three of the twelve.

Finally Clare played Ravel’s Le Tombeau De Couperin with perfectly poised and poetic phrasing yet infused with a warm vitality; the audience’s fulsome appreciation was rewarded with an encore – an Air by Handel – to end this memorable recital.