Chris Thile

LSO St Luke's, London EC1

4 Stars

Suited but scruffy, Chris Thile tumbles on stage with the clumsy energy of Buster Keaton. He's obviously lost none of that wide-eyed enthusiasm for music or his chosen instrument, the often-overlooked mandolin.

Over the last 10 years Thile has evolved from being one of the most recognisable musicians in bluegrass - he's best-known as The Punch Brothers' front man - to being a world-renowned innovator and musical collaborator, performing a unique blend of classical, rock, jazz, blues and folk.

His new album, an ambitious collection of Bach pieces, means there's plenty of classical in the set list and, despite originally having been written for solo violin, the mandolin's lute-like tone suits baroque music so well it's hard to believe it's not what the composer had in mind. 

Even a dyed-in-the-wool mandolinist can't help but be amazed by how rich the instrument can sound in the right hands. And for the classical buff there's the added wow-factor that Thile has had no formal classical training and is almost entirely self-taught.

He respectfully plays the Bach pieces "straight" but it's on his contemporary material, a mixture of covers and his own songs that he collectively labels "stuff," that he truly unleashes his abilities as a virtuoso. His improvised solos are breathtaking and draw the occasional involuntary whoops from the audience.

Highlights are undoubtedly those moments when Thile confounds expectations with sudden yet perfectly judged changes of mood and pace, dropping suddenly from almost heavy-metal threshing straight into the charmingly sung verse of a bluegrass standard and sneaking in a Bach piece as the solo in the mournful Jeff Buckleyesque Daughter Of Eve.

"There ain't too many folks can play too many notes on the mandolin," he sings during his encore. It was a real privilege to be in the same room as someone who plays them all so well.

Rhys Evans