Sunday morning is the perfect time for curiosities and this most imaginative programme proved a box of delights.

Salvaged from an oddments file at the British Museum, Elgar’s Andante And Allegro was a lyrical, playful taste of what the young composer had yet to offer.

There was Elisabeth Lutyen’s breathtakingly fragile elegie O Absalom, and Benjamin Britten’s Phantasy In F Minor Opus 2, which was the young composer’s ambitious pitch to the world famous oboist Leon Goossens and includes a five-minute rest for the oboe (Goosens liked to take a break) followed by an entry on the highest note the instrument can blow (Britten was no slouch).

Nicholas Daniel’s thoughtful introduction to each piece rendered even potential difficulties, such as Knussen’s 1977 Cantata, immediately accessible.

The Quartet are communicators par excellence of course and this programme of works characterised by intense and intricate collaboration between instrumental lines combined intense musical intimacy with a warm generosity of mind and spirit.

Lennox Berkeley’s String Trio Opus 19 was the ensemble’s virtuosic tit-for-tat with Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, an ever-popular showcase for Daniel and a welcome but unnecessary reward for a refreshingly challenging programme.