David Takeno, who has taught the violin at the Guildhall for more than 30 years, turns 60 this month, an event marked by a series of concerts given by his pupils.

Sunday evening's gig avoided the typical celebratory para phernalia: there were no speeches or presentations, only a display of exceptional playing by some of today's best young violinists.

Bach's solo violin works and Ysaÿe's sonatas made up the bulk of the programme, though they were interspersed with a handful of new pieces, commissioned in Takeno's honour. Jorg Widmann's Etude IV, written for his sister Carolin, juxtaposes ricocheting pizzicatos with shards of bowed melodies that briefly flower into lyricism. Alexander Goehr's Duos for Two Violins is ostensibly less showy. Much of the writing is either in unison or octaves, however, which threatens to expose the slightest slip of intonation on the part of its performers, Jagdish Mistry and Liza Ferschtman - though no such lapse occurred.

The Kungsbacka Trio gave us Julian Philips's Flying Machine, inspired by one of Leonardo's drawings, a wittily fluid piece that alternately soars aloft and thuds to earth.

Bach's solo works, however, represent the supreme challenge for the violinist. Rachel Podger battled a bit with the monumental D Minor Partita, while Lara St John, gasping for breath on occasion, was all high drama in the C Major Sonata. In contrast, Candida Thompson's account of the E Major Partita was a model of easy charm and sincere directness of expression.

Ysaÿe's sonatas, pushing the violin to its technical and expressive limits, are an acquired taste. Maria Spangler did exquisite things with the impressionistic Fifth, and Boris Breveting brought the house down with a powerhouse, bravura performance of the Sixth.