The main draw for this concert was doubtless the fact that it provided a rare opportunity to hear Anne-Sophie Mutter play Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Popularity and greatness don't necessarily go hand in hand, however, and her performance had more than its fair share of waywardness.

The concerto is frequently described as "epic", though Mutter adopted a rhapsodic, meditative approach to the first movement. Her technical assurance and the beauty of her playing are beyond dispute, though in her quest for expressive range she now inclines to be mannered. Those seraphic, piercingly sweet high notes, so integral to the Mutter sound, are now used for self-conscious effect and, in the first movement, she lingered over every passage in the stratospheres, bringing the orchestra to a virtual standstill and occasionally pulling the music out of shape. The darkening tone she deployed during the Larghetto, however, revealed deeper, more spontaneous emotional resonances, and the finale was perfectly judged. She received a massive ovation when it was over, though the concerto itself has been better served by others.

After the interval came a tremendous performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Masur has an almost instinctive understanding of the work's tensions and ambiguities and his interpretation surveyed the nostalgic reminiscences of Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Russian church music and even Debussy, before subsuming them into Shostakovich's unique symphonic voice. The marches had crushing weight, while the ending swerved from elation towards otiose, ritual pomp.