Emmanuelle Haïm is among the most physical of conductors. It has become commonplace to say that she uses her whole upper body, gesturing to her players with her shoulders, neck and head as well as her arms. Before her latest London gig with her period band, Le Concert d'Astrée, however, an announcement was made that she had recently injured her right shoulder in an accident. She had insisted, so we were told, on conducting, despite "restricted movement and some discomfort". As a result, the magic she can generate in performance was occasionally absent.

The programme consisted of Bach and Pergolesi, the latter represented by the Stabat Mater with Barbara Bonney and Alice Coote as soloists. The performance, though often affecting, was somewhat lacking in cogency. Opting for swifter speeds than usual, Haïm emphasised the score's stylistic diversity occasionally at the expense of its cumulative momentum. Coote is ideally suited to the work, since Pergolesi's alto writing keeps her, for the most part, out of her upper registers, where her voice is inclined to turn metallic. Bonney was often exquisite, though her lower registers have lost some warmth.

The Bach was more detrimentally affected by Haïm's injury. Understandably, she had requested that the programme be shortened; Coote and Bonney were given an aria apiece. Haïm's Bach was sensuously mundane rather than austere, though her insights only came intermittently. Imperfect intonation marred the D Minor Concerto for Two Violins. Patrick Beaugiraud, the soloist in the Oboe d'Amore Concerto in A, was accurate if expressionless.