Sinfonia Cymru does sterling work on two fronts in Wales: it gives vital experience to young professionals, and it also brings seminal repertoire to audiences who might otherwise never get the live experience. This programme of Stravinsky, Berio and Schoenberg had just the sort of panache that makes their chamber ensemble so valuable.

The Soldier's Tale - in which a soldier returning from war sells his violin to the devil and, with it, his soul - is one of Stravinsky's most endearing scores.

Its colourful atmosphere was well captured here with the rhythmic verve of successive dances underlined. But part of its overall vibrancy lies in the combination of narrator, actors, dancer and musicians; performances with narrator alone are inevitably slightly compromised.

Baritone Donald Maxwell can be relied upon for a larger than life approach to dramatic roles, and this narration had his customary gusto. Curiously though, the characterisation that have been paramount was less persuasive: exchanges between Soldier and Devil were not always clearly delineated and thus the tale's allegorical element lacked resonance. Cerys Jones's strongly projected violin devilry helped compensate.

Much as that work was a prototype for other composers' developments in music theatre, Luciano Berio's 1974 sequence of folksongs was important for crystalising their place in the fabric of his music, with the landmark Coro the eventual result. Joanne Thomas's warm mezzo missed some of Folksongs' defining theatricality, but the subtle balance between the voice and the instrumental writing was carefully realised. Schoenberg's exuberant Chamber Symphony No 1 Op complemented the Berio. Conductor Gareth Jones allowed the luxuriant writing to flow naturally while ensuring the ultimate impression was of an urgent intensity.