Credit for the resounding success of this fourth season of the Lewes Chamber Music Festival falls squarely in the lap of its founder, Beatrice Philips.

Not only does she deserve kudos for her creative energy in assembling this distinguished cadre of players, she also dazzled on violin in several of the concerts.

The festival’s finale was a high point. One rarely gets a chance, if ever, to hear Russian composer Georgy Catoire’s work, and this performance of his Piano Quintet was a revelation. The emotional depth, the complexity of the harmonies and gut-wrenching intensity of the string playing made for profound listening.

Schumann’s Piano Quartet In Eb was a fiery and vital rendition, with particularly heart-rending pathos in Philip Higham’s cello solo in the third movement, and breathtaking tension in the final vivace.

The amiable but quirky opening piece, CPE Bach’s Quartet for piano and strings, with its unexpected harmonic turns and surprising shifts of mood held its own in company with the more Romantic repertoire on the programme.

And young pianist Tom Poster, already active on the concert stage, gave a colourful, poignant rendition of Schumann’s less familiar work, Waldszenen.

Five stars