For its final prom before Saturday's Last Night, the BBC Symphony Orchestra chose a programme of two distinctive Russian styles of the last century: the lush piano music of Rachmaninov and the orchestral virtuosity of Shostakovich. There was plenty of contrast, but not quite as much as expected.

If ever there was a concerto that tempted pianists to get bogged down in delicious sounding slush it is Rachmaninov's Second, so the general lack of sentiment that characterised Andre Watts' performance of the solo part was refreshing. He brought out much inner detail, matched by a transparency in the orchestra's playing under Leonard Slatkin that was miles away from heavy romanticism.

Watts hammered out some of the trickiest passages so strongly that you could hear notes you had never heard before, and the effect could be dazzling - but at times it seemed effect was all there was, with little sense of shape or direction. He can play with a wonderfully tender calm and stillness, as he showed in the closing bars of the Adagio, the major-key melody of the finale and, indeed, in his encore, a dreamy, insubstantial piece by Liszt called La Rêve that sounded almost like an improvisation.

But in between this and the spikiness of the speedier episodes, one longed for a little more heartfelt passion.

In its way, Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony is a kind of concerto for orchestra, with so many individuals leaving their mark in extensive solo passages. The most obvious is the haunting cor anglais monologue at the end of the first movement, here yearningly played by Geoff Browne; but more unconventional instruments such as the piccolo, xylophone and contrabassoon get a look-in too, giving an almost comedic edge to the second-movement march. Yet while Shostakovich's writing can be quirky it is never purely whimsical, and in this symphony he channelled all his dazzling orchestral imagination into a serious, epic work.

The players were a match for it, giving an altogether more polished performance than in the Rachmaninov. And there was plenty of shape. Slatkin's conducting ensured that, from the diverging yet intensifying string lines of the opening to the tranquil magic of the final passage.