Once considered the greatest American orchestra, the New York Philharmonic faces stiff competition, both from its established rivals in Chicago and Cleveland, and from the emergence of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony as world class ensembles. Rumours that the New Yorkers' playing has diminished in quality weren't borne out. This was musicianship of scrupulous precision - yet something was missing. The players seemed to cultivate an air of hauteur, communicating little of the thrill and pleasure of music making. The impression was of a magnificent machine.

With their Music Director Kurt Masur, they've just embarked on a European tour. The programme for their first London concert consisted of Ives's The Unanswered Question and Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony. Rooted in New England transcendentalism, The Unanswered Question pits the transient babble of humanity against the spiritual contemplation of eternity. It was beautifully done, with the strings drifting out of a vast silence, the questioning trumpet hovering in a void and the woodwind shrill and querulous.

Shostakovich's Symphony, however, didn't always strike home with full force. A war work, it should rage with grief, terror and defiance. Here it became a majestic epic which was short on brutality. Masur lingers over the cumulative sonorities of the so-called innovation theme and the passage didn't pulverise as it should. It wasn't until he got to the slow movement that the Symphony's emotions began to grip. Masur has done better recent work with British orchestras.