Beethoven wrote his so-called Kreutzer Sonata (he jokingly called it his "sonata mulattica") for the black violin virtuoso George Bridgetower. The sonata's original dedication was to Bridgetower, but after the two fell out over something Bridgetower said about a woman, Beethoven rededicated it to Kreutzer, a French violinist.

Bridgewater is now somewhat forgotten, but this year's City of London Festival pays tribute, not only with Julian Joseph's opera Bridgetower (premiered next Thursday), but also with the Dante Quartet's programme yoking the Kreutzer/Bridgetower Sonata to Dominique- René de Lerma's piano quintet arrangement of Bridgetower's ballad Henry.

Over in a trice, Henry proved slight, strongly melodic and hardly a revelation. Still, it was a peg on which to hang half a concert: the last string quartet by Haydn (who taught Bridgetower), as well as the Beethoven sonata (played by the Dante's Krysia Osostowicz and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips), with John Sessions reading a few uncredited words about Bridgetower.

If Haydn emerged as po-faced and slightly flaccid, the Beethoven had both muscle and grace. Crawford-Phillips gave the piece a solid rhythmic profile, allowing Osostowicz to show the range of her tone, roughhewn one moment, sweetly lyrical the next.

In the second half, Sessions read from Tolstoy's story The Kreutzer Sonata, at first interspersed with Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet, then followed by Janacek's String Quartet No1, inspired by Tolstoy. While Sessions rather overplayed Tolstoy, the Dantes got exactly the enigmatic evanescence Stravinsky required. The Janacek was less tortured than some performances, yet the Dantes did not sell the drama short, their reading seeming to feed off Tolstoy's subdued violence.

• City of London Festival runs until July 12 (0845 120 7502).