UNDER the auspices of the Lakeland Sinfonia Concert Society, the BBC Philharmonic with its exciting principal conductor, Gianandrea Noseda, at the helm, played a programme perfectly designed to display its manifold attributes.

During his pre-concert talk, Mr Noseda, who clearly loves working with the players, revealed that the bulk of rehearsal time was spent, not on technical matters, but on searching for the music's hidden nuances which, if highlighted, gives the all-important extra dimension to a performance.

Respighi's luxuriously-scored The Fountains of Rome provided the perfect scenario. Passages of atmospheric tenderness vying with those of a rhythmically explosive, tempestuous nature drew from the orchestra a full range of colours warm, resonant string tone, intensity of brass sound, intimate woodwind solo work and a richly sonorous tutti effect.

Tchaikovsky's 2nd Piano Concerto is not second movement excepted out of its composer's top drawer even though its protagonists did their utmost to convince us otherwise.

Peter Jablonski, the powerful soloist, and Mr Noseda exchanged an enthusiastic bear hug at the end with justification because the virtuoso nature of the rollercoaster outer movements had required everybody to seriously buckle down and deliver the goods.

Many of Mr Noseda's nuances were revealed in his stunning reading of the Enigma Variations: only rarely do we hear such faithful attention given to Elgar's fastidious detail and my overwhelming memory is of the players' total commitment to that end.

Brian Paynes