Piazzolla with Berio: at first glance, it sounds like an exotic mix at the deli counter. But in fact we’re talking about Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla, and Luciano Berio, noted for his experimental music. Even if you can’t eat it, however, the combination still provides an exotic mix, as Ensemble OX plainly enjoyed proving. This local group of eight players and four singers is quite recently formed, and promised to “sequence some pieces without gaps for clappings, bowings, smilings, onnings or offings”. The musicians signally failed to prevent themselves smiling, thank goodness, but their other self-imposed strictures led to a fast-moving, delightfully informal concert.

There was a home grown prelude to the first slice of Piazzolla. Keith Fairbairn, one of Ensemble OX’s two percussionists, presented his own Summoned by Drums, an exuberant demonstration of just how many effects you can get from bongos. Next was Piazzolla’s Café 1930 for flute (Marion Ackrill) and piano (Rod Varty). A slow, humid melody suggested that you could sit sipping the same cup of coffee all morning, without anyone pointedly sticking the bill under your nose. Then came Bordel 1900, with flute and marimba (Ketih Fairbairn) conjuring up a distinctly lively French brothel. Finally from Piazzolla, Milonga per Tre for solo piano seemed to suggest nostalgia for past pleasures.

Ravel’s edgy and unusual Pièce en forme de Habanera for flute and harp (Sarah Goss), and Gordon Stout’s authentic-sounding Two Mexican Dances for marimba led into Berio’s 11 Folk Songs for mezzo-soprano and seven instruments. Four singers (Sarah Tenant-Flowers, Janet Allen, Helen Morton, and Carol Goodall) in turn characterised Berio’s surprisingly benign arrangements of folksongs from eight different areas – two from the Auvergne, for instance, sounding very similar to Canteloube’s familiar song cycle. But – and here comes my only grumble – there were no programme notes or translations. They would have added greatly to this refreshing concert.