Encores are almost the rule in modern concert life, rather than the exception they ought to be. But on Wednesday night, when just about all the audience seemed to be hoping that Andreas Scholl would give us just one more aria, we were left wanting. To make matters worse, conductor Nicholas McGegan had told us that this superb young counter-tenor might have something else for us after the official final item: Bach's Third Orchestral Suite.

But no. It could be that Scholl's last offering - the marathon Venga Pur, from Mozart's early opera Mitridate, had taken too much out of him. Or perhaps the deafening, starting-pistol-like explosion from the back of the auditorium at the beginning of the concert's second half had put him off his stride.

Whatever, Scholl obviously decided enough was enough - a judgment with which no one in the audience appeared to agree. Couldn't he have managed one more Handel aria?

Scholl's performance of Se Parla nel Mio Cor from Giustino was as elegant and stirring as his reputation would lead one to expect. But O Lord whose Mercies Numberless from Saul was exquisite - the kind of singing that makes the small hairs bristle on the back of the neck. After that, the Gluck and Mozart numbers in the second half were a tad anti-climactic.

Still, there were compensations in the Bach Third Suite: the CBSO playing crisply, stylishly and with feeling for McGegan. It doesn't matter how often one hears the famous Air, or that opening bars are now irredeemable associated with Hamlet cigars; in a good performance this beautiful instrumental song can still move - and this performance was more than good. So too were the two Handel concertos earlier on.

The horns may have taken a moment to settle into the taxing high solo writing in the Concerto a Due Cori No 2. Otherwise this was a model of fine Handel playing - alert, vivacious, witty and generally spirit-lifting.

***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible