Of all the instruments capable of seductively wresting music from those for which it was originally conceived, the harp has no equals.

Its sheer size makes it formidable and its ability to convey both contrapuntal and ethereal sounds with authority gives it more than an edge on other contenders.

The Welsh harpist Bethan Semmens, for so long one of the most accomplished students on the instrument in Britain, has completed her masters degree in performance at the Royal College of Music and appears frequently on the touring Live Music Now! scheme. Not often does a musician give such a positive account of herself in terms of flowering as a fully-formed professional.

Her programme showed how the harp cleaves music to itself with enviable intent as well as joyously accepting works written especially for it. In two opening sonatas by Scarlatti for harpsichord, it even adds a dynamic dimension to the original, and that’s apart from clothing it in felicitous garb. Here she encouraged that transformation without over-emphasis, retaining the spirit of the original as well as suggesting something extra musically.

Towards the other end of the scale, but not in the realm of excess, Fauré’s Impromptu forces the instrument to pull its weight and the harpist to stretch from one end of its range to the other, not surprising as it was written as a test-piece for a competition.

‘Encased’ was the word this musician used to describe how John Thomas wrapped Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn in familiar and excessive arpeggios, though the theme is not so much confined as over-decorated. Once again, she got the balance between theme and packaging just right.

Transposing Durand’s Waltz in E flat from piano to harp was possibly an improvement and little more fitting could have been imagined for Rota’s Sarabanda e Toccata, Dalwyn Henshall’s Dwy Ddawns Gymreig and two movements from a jazzy suite by Pearl Chertok, including the Gershwin-sounding Ten Past Two. It was interesting to hear her say that playing music by living composers was useful in that one could contact them for suggestion and explication. With Henshall, she had to play a competition piece which wasn’t the required length so she asked him if she could repeat a section to fill the space. If he agreed because he knew her playing, it wouldn’t have been a surprise.

Once it got firmly on track, this was an impressive performance that presented the harpist in command of her instrument and not, as sometimes happens, the other way about. If it hasn’t already been done, someone should write music specifically for her. She has a natural but disciplined way with the instrument.