From the minute you walked in the door you realised that this was going to be a hopeless enterprise. Putting English National Ballet in the middle of St Paul’s Cathedral probably sounded like a great idea, but with the orchestra placed in front and the dancers behind, on a low platform, sight lines for the audience were appalling. Even from a prime position just six rows back I saw only a third of the stage action and absolutely nothing of the dancers below the knees. However, I did have a wonderful view of the conductor Gavin Sutherland, who was ebullient throughout.

Despite the ill-conceived set-up for this City of London Festival event, this was a special night, and not just because the cathedral’s baroque splendour provides a matchless setting. This show marked the final performances of Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks, the splendid husband and wife duo who have served as ENB’s stars for almost 20 years. Edur provided a new ballet for the occasion, Silent Monologues, to music by Heino Eller and other Estonian composers. It’s an artful and plangent work for three couples, weighted with yearning, regret and a palpable sense that the vagaries of love are inexorable. Happily it was filled with lifts, which at least allowed us a glimpse of the ballerinas. The six dancers performed it beautifully.

Elsewhere, Elena Glurdjidze offered her heartfelt Dying Swan. The good news is that the irksome feathered neck brace has been dropped from Karl Lagerfeld’s specially designed tutu. The bad news is that Glurdjidze didn’t so much expire gracefully as drown in the sea of music stands that obliterated all sight of her.

ENB’s orchestra also had its moment in the spotlight when it performed Peter Maxwell Davies’s An Orkney Wedding, a flighty and occasionally nightmarish romp that deserved a better performance and better acoustics to do it justice.

As for the dancing, though, the main attraction was Oaks and Edur in Les Sylphides. She looked as fresh as ever, floating like a heavenly vision, while he, as always, gave us nobility and ardour. The couple are now leaving Britain to return to Estonia, where Edur takes up a new job as director of the Estonian National Ballet.

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