Since Mark Elder took over the Hallé as principal conductor two years ago, the orchestra's strings have consolidated and enriched their sound, developing a superb flexibility of tone and technique. This was gratifyingly evident in their performance of Elgar's Second Symphony, where the strings' mellifluous, silky sound was ideal for the blend of determination and hesitancy that is Elgar's defining and most precious quality.

But what impresses most about the Hallé/Elder partnership is their intense attention to sound, colour and detail. Nowhere was this more vividly demonstrated than in Berlioz's gorgeous song cycle Les Nuits d'Eté. Anyone familiar only with the self-styled heroic romanticism of Berlioz's orchestral works would never guess that he also wrote songs like these, which easily rank alongside Mozart, Schubert, Mahler and Strauss. Les Nuits d'Eté is a challenge for any singer, demanding an extraordinary vocal and lyrical range. The French mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch had a richness and expressive intelligence that enabled her to dig deeply into the songs' depths, supported in every bar by an orchestra and conductor who clearly understood and loved the music as deeply as she did.

Colin Matthews's new work, Vivo, is more subtle than its title suggests. At under five minutes long, it is deliberately not just a fast showpiece, but a work that explores the idea of inner energy in both fast and slow music. The slow section, which takes up half the work, is initially innervated by the insistent presence of the opening section's ticking rhythms before sliding into passivity and, eventually, a trance-like state. Finally, the punchy rhythms of the opening music return, emphasised bizarrely but effectively by the metallic ringing of anvils and scaffolding poles.