Welsh music and musical traditions were much in evidence at the opening lunchtime concert of the Riverfront's 2013-14 First Wednesday series.

West Wales soprano Joy Cornock sang Welsh airs in Welsh among other things and was joined on the platform by Cardiff-born harpist Bethan Semmens.

There was an eisteddfod atmosphere abroad, which some of us can find uncomfortable, and Ms Semmens's solo items - a transcription of Durand's Waltz in E flat and Mchedelov's Paganini Variations - found her fumbling in places as though there were a panel of adjudicators breathing down her neck.

But Ms Cornock's bright clarity could only have been sustained by the way her partner kept the self-sufficient harp in check while accompanying.

That Welsh combination doesn't really suit non-Welsh operatic items such as Romilda's aria Va godendo from Handel's opera Serse and Zerlina's consoling Vedrai, carino from Mozart's Don Giovanni. Therefore, it was to the singer's credit that meaningful role play was kept up.

Nor does including My Life Belongs To You by Ivor Novello really suggest a link between his saccharine romanticism and a musical combination just made for the Welsh competitive voice-and-strings tradition of cerdd-dant, which the pair had already demonstrated beautifully. In the accompaniment to The Rose, by Amanda McBroom, less was conclusively proved to be more.

These two first performed at Ms Cornock's final year recital at the Royal Welsh College and have been part of the Live Music Now! scheme for five years.

The high ringing vocal notes of their final number, Cymru Fach, by David Richards, showed that they know how to cap a Gwalian song sheet.