On paper, Bach and Berio seem to have almost nothing in common except the letter B. But Northern Sinfonia's adventurous programme makes it seem the most natural pairing in the world. Despite the gap of two centuries, both Berio and Bach are revealed as astringent, cerebral innovators, committed to transforming complex harmonic arithmetic into freely conceived emotional expression.

Thomas Zehetmair and Heinz Holliger form a dream-ticket partnership, sharing conducting and instrumental roles in a programme that alternates Berio's solo flights of fancy for oboe and violin with Bach's reconstructed concertos for the two instruments. As the chamber orchestra's much-lauded new music director, Zehetmair has already cemented a strong relationship with the Sinfonia. And the venerable Swiss oboist, conductor and composer Heinz Holliger, though he may sport one of the most audacious comb-overs in the musical world, can muster a tone of ringing clarity that warrants no disguise.

Holliger gave the premiere of Berio's Chemin No IV in 1975 and, a quarter of a century later, it still sounded arrestingly fresh. The unaccompanied introduction is an extraordinary technical feat: a droning undertone peppered with stuttering interjections, which Holliger negotiated as if the oboe were a polyphonic instrument.

Holliger's composition Eisblumen (Ice Flowers) formed the highlight of the second half. This spectral piece explores a Bach chorale, arranged for a detuned string ensemble, which plays whispered harmonics. First Holliger ran through the chorale as originally written, then launched into his ethereal exposition, mirroring Bach like a phantom reflection in a frozen lake.