Though not, as far as I know, available for weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs, the London Symphony Orchestra is developing a nice line in birthdays. Six months ago it marked 75 years of Slava Rostropovich. This time it was the turn of Sir Colin Davis, the orchestra's principal and a man who has made this the finest such ensemble in the country.

Slava's celebration was as exuberant as the man. Davis was born the same year but under a different star. Though he still conducts like a young man he is no stranger to the idea of his own mortality, and the programme he directed was far more introspective. James Naughtie compered, his contributions brief but affectionate. There were fireworks, yes, but mainly confined to Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen for violin and orchestra, given a muscular performance by Sarah Chang.

Otherwise the first half was shot through with contemplative nostalgia. Ian Bostridge was the wistful soloist in Hylas's aria from Berlioz's Les Troyens. Then Slava himself, surrounded by seven of the LSO's cellos, took the lead in the Preludio from Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras, followed by Glazunov's bittersweet Chant du Ménestrel.

We returned from the interval to find three grand pianos nesting in the orchestra's midst. Mozart is one of Davis's enduring loves. In the rarely performed Concerto in F for three pianos he let the meaning shine out without blinding us to its charm. Imogen Cooper and Mitsuko Uchida were a perfect team in the main solo parts; Radu Lupu took a supporting role. In the first hint of birthday frolics, Cooper and Uchida managed to work the first line of Happy Birthday into their cadenza - in a very elegant, Mozartian way. There were only two real tests of the orchestra's mettle. The Royal Hunt and Storm from Troyens was an obvious choice - Davis has practically made the opera his own. Janacek's Taras Bulba, based on stories of martyrdom and execution, was less predictable, but Davis gave it a romantic breadth, and the finale went out on its own musical high.

No call for party hats, then, but much to celebrate none the less. Many happy returns.