The hapless owner of a mobile phone had their 15 seconds of fame (the incident wasn't worth Andy Warhol's statutory quarter of an hour) last night when its ringing caused a restart to Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto.
And it made an impact, as the eventual performance began somewhat rockily, thankfully soon settling down.
This developed into a generous, alert collaboration between soloist Peter Donohoe and David Curtis' Orchestra of the Swan, with a wonderful depth of tone from Donohoe and particularly caressing woodwind contributions (not least from the clarinets) and tautly sprung timpani.
Peter Donohoe's neat articulation was as crisply turned as Mozart and his appropriate pedalling added an extra dimension of colour.
This was the first ever concerto he publicly performed (aged all of 12) and now, a lifetime later, the work was delivered with authority and a genuine sense of improvisation.
His quirky little Haydn encore was a neat tribute to the two symphonies by that composer which framed the programme, beginning with the very early Le Midi symphony, no.7.
The concertante string soli here were deftly delivered, horns and bassoon brayed suitably gutturally and the flute was a constant delight.
The only disappointment was the underbalancing of the busy double-bass solo in the trio. Elsewhere, the wonderful OOTS sound showed just how much Curtis and his orchestra have gained the measure of the Town Hall's helpful acoustic.
And we ended with a very late Haydn symphony, the Clock, no.101.
Spirited, witty, graceful, controlled and robust were all adjectives which characterised this reading at various points and the thought occurred that it's about time we had a decent new recording of these twelve miraculous symphonies Haydn composed for his two English visits in the 1790s.
