Before there was sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll there was Bach. His breath-taking Partita No.3 in E Minor for solo violin written in 1720 to show off the qualities of both instrument and performer, mind and body, opened a concert by international star Tasmin Little at Windsor Parish Church as part of the Windsor Festival, writes Bryce Martin.

The exuberance, passion and commitment of the 33-year-old in live performance made an old favourite sound as though it was being heard for the first time.

From the back of the space, even the lightest touches were distinct and pure thanks to the wonderful acoustics provided by the high-vaulted nave.

Fast forward 200 years, and Tasmin was joined by pianist Martin Roscoe and cellist Thomas Carroll to play Ravel's Trio in A Minor, written on the eve of the First World War and culminating in a triumphant expression of the human spirit overcoming its darkest moments.

A ravishing, rhythmic work, the three played as one to produce a soaring sound which rose above the best efforts of Heathrow-bound jets to grab the attention.

After the interval the always beaming Tasmin added two more friends, double bassist Dominic Seldis and viola player Philip Dukes and went back a century to play Schubert's Trout Quintet.

While I confess that chamber music is not my number one favourite, the quintet compelled attention, both of ear and eye, as they intertwined playfully before their absorbed audience.

The one dotty thing about her 1927 Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra is its choice of the solo pairing, one that Smyth was only intermittently able to bring off. Tasmin Little's Stradivarius ran rings around Richard Watkins's horn in terms of agility, but was trumped whenever he reached mezzo forte. Both players, however, relished Smyth's lyricism, expressed in a first-movement theme of easy flow and a second movement in which harmonic shifts provide uplift without sentimentality.

Not a lost masterpiece, then, but a curiosity well worth hearing

Tasmin Little’s account of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto could be one of the performances of the season.

She came on beaming and produced as arresting an account of the piece as you will hear. Her rapport with the orchestra and conductor Owain Arwel Hughes, as well as the audience she had in the palm of her hand, was a pleasure to behold.

From her Stradivarius she obtained a rich and resonant sound. Technically there were fireworks galore, not least in the final bars. On this evidence she is one of Europe’s finest violinists and the audience rose to her.

Extravaganza highlights world class role

IF ANYTHING could confirm Stratford's aspirations to be "world class" then it came last weekend when an array of musicians, with violinist Tasmin Little at the helm, demonstrated their artistry in a four-day extravaganza of glorious sound.

As artistic director of the Spring Sounds Festival Ms Little played a major part in devising the programme in collaboration with festival director David Curtis, conductor of the Stratford-based Orchestra of the Swan.

The festival included three orchestral concerts - one of them performed by the world-renowned Academy of St Martin in the Fields - and a Sunday afternoon chamber music event that took your breath away.

As if this weren't enough, we had the pleasure of hearing two virtuoso instrumentalists of the highest possible quality and two world premieres, one composed specifically for the festival at the request of Ms Little.

Although the orchestral concerts were magnificent, with Ms Little and clarinettist Sarah Williamson providing star-studded virtuosity, the centrepiece of the festival and the event offering most relish for the connoisseurs—was Sunday's chamber music concert at the Town Hall.

Ms Little, the cellist Paul Watkins and the pianist Martin Roscoe performed four chamber works, including two of the greatest piano trios ever written, by Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Between these two masterpieces they performed Six Studies in English Folksong for cello and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) and the Sonata for violin and piano Op 4 by Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944).

From the dramatic opening notes of the Schubert you had no doubt you were in the presence of greatness, from composer and performers alike. The concert was entitled Tasmin Little and Friends. Bearing in mind that although they may be friends they don't play together that frequently. They demonstrated a familiarity with the music and a general rapport that gave the impression of a permanent unit.

Sometimes a cliche is the right term, and only one word comes to mind in the case of this work by Schubert and the performance of it on Sunday - sublime.

After the Vaughan Williams and the Ethel Smyth - described by Ms Little as a "real discovery" - the crowning glory of the afternoon came with the Ravel.

As Ms Little pointed out, Ravel makes the three instruments sound at times like a full orchestra, such is the vast range of tone colour at his disposal. This was a truly exquisite afternoon of music-making performed by practitioners of the very highest calibre.

The festival opened on Friday evening at Stratford Civic Hall with the Orchestra of the Swan, conducted by David Curtis with Ms Little as soloist. The programme included The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams and the Introit from the violin concerto by Gerald Finzi (1901-56).

Ms Little brought to the populular Vaughan Williams work the warmth, tender ness and spot-on precision you would expect from someone of her immense gifts.

The Orchestra of the Swan's final contribution came on Monday evening, again at the Civic Hall, when Ms Little gave the world premiere of Japanese Spring for violin and orchestra by the British composer Roxanna Panufnik (born 1968). This was a short, inventive and utterly delightful work by a musical talent well worth keeping an eye out for.

Ms Little's final and magnificent contribution to the proceedings came at the end of the concert with a performance of the Concerto for violin and orchestra by the American composer Samuel Barber (1910-1981). This work is famous for its deeply romantic andante second movement, but it also has a rumbustious finale, full of zest and requiring excellent technique on the part of the soloist.

At the end, only one word will suffice: Bravo - at a significant decibel level.