I first heard about Concerts by Candlelight on Facebook. You know those ads that pop up and you think, “I wonder what that is?” Before you know it, your feed is full of candlelight and references to string quartets, and very little else.

I was sufficiently intrigued to try one in the Core, the Eden Project’s educational building. A friend was visiting, and having established that we all either liked or could tolerate Coldplay, we signed up to hear the Haldon Quartet deliver their take on the stadium band’s greatest hits.

If you’re a purist and allergic to cover versions, this isn’t an experience for you. Daughter, a big Coldplay fan, had better things to do that evening and I was rather relieved.

But if you love to hear Radiohead transformed by lush jazz piano, The Beatles performed a capella or Pink Floyd channelled into a disco beat, Concerts by Candlelight will be right up your street. I absolutely fall into that camp – I love to explore the versatility of good music.

Under the bows of these consummate players, Clocks became a Bachian fugue, while Shiver underwent a deconstruction worthy of Philip Glass, and Speed of Sound could have been performed at a Regency ball in Bridgerton.

Further tracks adapted by the in-house curation team included Something Just Like This (a duet with The Chainsmokers – one of the first violinist’s favourite band names, but definitely not mine), The Scientist, Sky Full of Stars, Viva La Vida (a natural choice for string quartet) and, most appropriate in this particular venue, Paradise.

Sheet music was supplied on achingly 21st-century iPads with foot pedals to turn the pages. The instrumentalists passed the tunes between each other – even the viola, so often relegated to the background, had its share of leads.

The entertainment was interspersed with friendly chat, fascinating facts and dad jokes, making for a congenial evening. Throughout, the sculpture Infinity Blue puffs and groans, building up to a crescendo of smoke rings. It’s distracting, but not in a bad way – it simply adds to the atmosphere.

As for the candles, they are fake – perhaps not unreasonably, given the potential fire hazard - and weren’t quite as extensive as the publicity images would lead you to expect. But this feels like a small gripe, given the quality of the performance.

Several more artists are set to be given the Candlelight treatment, including film composer Hans Zimmer (August 31), Queen, Taylor Swift and the more conventional Vivaldi Four Seasons (all September 20, at various venues around Eden).

Even my Swiftie Daughter is eager to hear what a string quartet will make of her beloved’s back catalogue, so it looks like another night by candlelight is on the cards.