Is it really 18 years since Michael Collins played his clarinet to victory in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition (an event now deemed too competitive and too highbrow for transmission on mainstream TV)? It must be since that's the age of his ensemble London Winds, heard in concert with pianist Peter Jablonski in St Aldate's Church on Friday.

We couldn't have wished for a better appetiser than the pre-concert play' they offered instead of the expected talk. All five of them were onstage to explain something of the timbre of their instrument, their reaction to varying acoustic, and their interpretation and commissioning of new work.They played music by Hindemith and Ligeti and, to illustrate their frequent use of arrangements, one of Faur's Dolly Suite pieces, originally for piano, arranged by their bassoonist Robin O'Neill and which flautist Philippa Davies told us is surprisingly difficult to play.

That really was a generous starter, followed by a neatly-balanced menu. First a quintet by the little-known Franz Danzi, written in 1819 but still conventional in its fast/slow alternation, with a chirpy Allegretto opener, a longer-phrased Andante and a cheerful scurrying final Allegretto interspersed with horn calls.

Two substantial main offerings followed; Beethoven's op.18 of 1796 and Mozart's K.452 of 1784, both for piano and wind (no flute) and both originally featuring the composer as soloist. This juxtaposition made for fascinating comparison, notably in the second movement (Andante in Beethoven, Larghetto in Mozart) where the piano holds the melody while giving each instrument - horn, bassoon, oboe - a solo spot. The Mozart had some particularly fine writing for oboe (Gareth Hulse).

Of course there were differences too. With Beethoven there's always the sense of energy hardly held in check; the piano dominates in the first and last movements, with dramatic runs that tell us the romantic movement' has arrived.

What next? Souffl? Savoury? All six performers letting their hair down in Jean Franaix's swooping, jumping hiccuping L'Heure du Berger of 1947, perhaps a euphoric celebration of the end of the Occupation and return to frivolity, certainly a bonne-bouche to end the evening.