Estonian conductor Neeme Jarvi will always be remembered as the man who turned the Gothenburg Symphony into one of the world's most formidable ensembles. He relinquishes his position as principal conductor later this year, and it's a measure of his energy that the orchestra has decided to replace him not with one conductor but three. Mario Venzago assumes Jarvi's title, but will be joined by Christian Zacharias and Peter Eotvos as principal guest conductors for the classical and contemporary repertoires respectively.

The GSO, meanwhile, is partway through a UK tour. Jarvi has always scheduled the rarely played alongside the familiar. In this instance, Sibelius's Violin Concerto was flanked by Stravinsky's Jeu de Cartes and Rachmaninov's Third Symphony.

Written in 1936, Rachmaninov's Third is a flawed work, chiefly noted for its simplified harmonic language and a transparency of texture new to the composer's output. Jarvi couldn't quite disguise either the longueurs or the occasional sentimentality of the first movement, though the central adagio was a thing of wonder as its undulating melody passed from instrument to instrument with ravishing finesse.

The GSO's combination of clarity and richness spoke volumes, however, in Jeu de Cartes - a wacky ballet depicting a game of poker that also allows Stravinsky to present himself as the joker among a pack of fellow composers, quoting their music only to trash it with distortion. Stravinsky's mid-period ballets can pall without the choreography, though here you didn't miss it for a second.

Jarvi's soloist in Sibelius's concerto, meanwhile, was Nikolaj Znaider, a dapper Tom Cruise lookalike. His tone is gorgeous, though he occasionally favours sweeping statements at the expense of subtlety. Few orchestras can match the GSO when it comes to Sibelius, and in this instance they played as if the music was in their blood.