Music in Transition is a new chamber series devised by conductor Martyn Brabbins to explore modernist developments at the turn of the 20th century; the point at which the avant-garde and the general listening public are often assumed to have parted company.

Yet perhaps the forbidding reputation of Schoenberg and his associates has less to do with the perceived difficulty of their work than the high seriousness with which we generally approach it. Brabbins aims to sweep such misplaced reverence away. "If you feel a titter coming on," he says by way of introduction to his account of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, "by all means titter away."

It's a pleasingly informal approach, though it would be a cruel disservice to soprano Claire Booth's brilliant negotiation of this complex, expressionist song cycle to respond with a fit of giggles. She proves perfectly adapted to the vocal eccentricities of sprechstimme, the bizarre hybrid of exaggerated speech inflections and notated pitches, and though the resultant mixture of swoops and growls still has the capacity to alarm, Booth makes it sound ultimately no more artificial than a line of Monteverdian recitative.

Leading a fine ensemble of musicians from the Orchestra of Opera North, Brabbins directs with his customary insight. Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale formed the second half, a work originally designated to be "sung, played and danced" though Brabbins's forces only run to two out of three; actors Drew Taylor and Andrew Ramsey provide confident narration, with no choreography in evidence. Still, an appreciative full house suggests that "difficult" early 20th century programmes can be crowd pullers. Titter ye not.