OUTSIDE St George’s Hall on William Brown Street, bathed in the mellow shadows cast by sodium lights bouncing off the neo-classical splendour of this most patrician of buildings, the Shetland fiddler Aly Bain was enjoying what he clearly reckoned was a well deserved cigarette after delivering a masterful set of tunes.

Some fans were still gathering their wits and emotions on the stone steps inside the building after Bain and his cosmopolitan musical pals, Sweden’s incomparable Ale Moller and the New York fiddler and old-timey banjo player Bruce Molksy – whose versatility is fabled – had strolled onto the stage and performed as though we were in the back room of a pub where informal cosy warmth is the norm.

There were varied and often haunting melodies, tunes and occasional songs that crossed the oceans and the cultural divides, much like Aly Bain’s highly acclaimed television series The Transatlantic Sessions, and saw this alliance of three outstanding exponents of the traditional format excel in a venue that was once graced by Charles Dickens.

Now the usual form is that audiences will hail the brilliance of such endeavours, particularly with outstanding soloists of this calibre where, apart from his fine array of fiddles, the diminutive Aly Bain played for the first time in the UK a viola, an instrument not usually associated with the sometimes feral sounds this man can draw with a bow.

In the acoustically perfect concert hall – where a massive glass chandelier sparkled and the gold leaf adorned walls glistened in the few spotlights that lit up the trio – it sounded like the deep, mournful call of ancient sea fairies.

And it wasn’t just the viola on a debut outing, as Ale Moller – a giant in Swedish music circles of all genres – introduced us to his amazing, self designed, 10-stringed mandola which is a truly unique hybrid between guitar and mandolin. He also let rip with a Viking horn, and played glorious flutes.

So, there was Mr Bain – endowed with an MBE for services to folk music – puffing away and instead of acknowledging accolades was holding forth on the magnificence of St George’s Hall and its concert room.

Its sheer beauty had left him, as well as Ale and Bruce, overawed and they insisted it is the finest musical venue in Britain, while Bain suggested even anywhere in the world.