Her playing might be more flamboyant than insightful, but the young violinist Leila Josefowicz enjoyed one of the warmest receptions ever witnessed in the Bridgewater Hall. It is easy to see why: she combines a stunning stage presence with irresistible panache and enthusiasm.

And there is plenty of scope in the Tchaikovsky concerto for that: Josefowicz bounded through the finale with the demonic energy that has become her appealing trademark. But the first movement needs thoughtful handling, and it was this deeper level of musicianship that was missing.

It isn't that Josefowicz lacks imagination; it is precisely her flair for vivid characterisation that has earned her a reputation for originality. The weakness is her absence of long-range musical thinking, which produced some startlingly ugly phrasing, and atendency to assume that treating a piece roughly makes for a passionate performance.

Conductor Thomas Dausgaard and the BBC Philharmonic did not soften Josefowicz's hard edges; if anything, the orchestral tuttis were even more driven than her solo passages. It added up to a heartless performance of this lyrical, passionate work, but the audience loved it.

Composed only eight years apart, Sibelius's Seventh Symphony and Nielsen's Fourth have more in common than their single-movement format. They are both richly expansive works, the Sibelius arching powerfully towards its sonorous C-major conclusion, and the Nielsen radiating glorious conviction with his portrayal of the "inextinguishable" life-force. Of the two works, the Sibelius is the trickiest, in pacing and balance; the final surge to C major is so brief that, unless there is sufficient momentum, it can fall rather flat, which it did here.

But the Nielsen was outstanding in many ways, most strikingly in the third movement's gorgeous wind playing and blisteringly virtuosic strings and timpani in the finale. Though Dausgaard drove the orchestra too hard in the Tchaikovsky, everything he did in the Nielsen was motivated by a grasp of its architecture that produced thrilling music-making.