Mahan Esfahani is known for not only astonishing technique, but also for making the harpsichord sing.

After all, the harpsichord can be an astringent instrument - it doesn't work like a piano, and can't be made to sound like one in terms of dynamic range or scale. Yet Esfahani is someone who can draw emotion and power from the instrument through his quietly assured mastery of the thing.

We're fortunate that he has made frequent visits to Oxford concert halls since his 2008 residency at New College, and is well known here as a consummate performer.  He presented here a wide variety of harpsichord pieces in terms of both chronology and mood, not beginning each piece until he had taken a moment to collect himself. Throughout, he evinced and communicated a strong enthusiasm for the material, and for his trade.

The instrument was a handsome 1980 Robert Goble, which could be stopped to give many timbres: which was a good thing since, as well as the more familiar Bach family and Couperin material, we had a series of miniatures for harpsichord by Prokofiev, which asked a great deal of the instrument's tone and register and mark an interesting extension of its repertoire!

A word about the venue: the Jacqueline du Pre hall is a fine building, designed as much for the musician as the audience. There are several practice rooms as well as the handsome, airy but intimate concert hall, which was said to be the first purpose-built music hall in the city since the Holywell, and it is a very comfortable place to be for an evening.

There's always a lot going on in Oxford on a term-time Friday evening, and the hall was shamefully only half full, but we were held rapt throughout the programme and the encores: a short Sonata piece by Cimarosa, and Rameau's fearsome 'Gavotte avec six doubles'. Magnificent.