Vassily's triumph

Charismatic conductor Vassily Sinaisky left the concert hall hands happily held aloft in triumph from this magnificent concert.

There were laurels for David Pyatt, horn and Mark Padmore, tenor in Britten's striking settings of English poetry in the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

Padmore's sense of purpose and lofty tone lent a fine degree of emotive power and tenderness to each poem, illuminating the dark dread of the Dirge, and with Pyatt's exquisitely liquid playing made this a memorable performance.

There was further excellence too, in Pyatt's superb account of Mozart's Horn Concerto No.3. We held our breath in the cadenzas, aware of the dangers, hoping for a faultless solo and relieved that he succeeded with such eloquence. The finale's cheerful virtuosity, dashingly dispatched, gave enormous satisfaction.

Sinaisky's personal achievement came with Beethoven's Symphony No.8. Taut rhythms, playing from the BSO as crisp as a new banknote and homogeneously honed to perfection. This was a reading imbued with the vigour of life, expressive dynamics in the quieter passages and exploring the finale's textures with discerning affability.

That spirit of artistic fulfilment also informed a splendid account of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, raising the wash of wild waves and the threat of overcast skies.