The process jokily referred to as the "russification" of Welsh National Opera is impossible to ignore, although, in reality, it may turn out to be no joking matter. With Tugan Sokhiev at the helm and a plethora of Russian singers, as well as the prospect of more Russian repertoire when the company gets to the new Wales Millennium Centre, the pattern is clear enough. The appearance of Vassily Sinaisky conducting Tchaikovsky for this orchestral concert seemed to reinforce it.

A winner of the Karajan competition before Sokhiev was even born, Sinaisky is the real McCoyski, one of the most expressive and dynamic of conductors, his every gesture precise and galvanising. In this programme, however, some idiosyncratic choices of tempo made for a surprisingly uneven overall performance. From the opening of Weber's overture Der Freischütz, he may have subdued the orchestra into playing as quietly as possible, but the funereal pace that came with it had a stultifying effect. Only at the very end did the music came belatedly to life.

Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony suffered from similar losses of power. While there could be no complaint about the forthright brass playing, the haunting oboe canzona of the second movement or the meticulous care Sinaisky lavished on Tchaikovsky's layers of melody and countermelody, the perceptible sagging of energy when the pace dropped seemed to signal not russification but ossification. Happily, the final allegro had a fire that brought the concert to a triumphant end.

The young Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud was the robustly lyrical soloist in Bruch's First Violin Concerto. Intent on proving himself a more complete musician than the Bruch could show, he played his own mournful but well-crafted Prelude in B minor as a solo encore. Kraggerud's inspiration is apparently his 19th-century compatriot Ole Bull rather than flashier Italian violinist-composers; of his musical integrity there was no doubt.