For parts of the first half of his Philharmonia concert, Charles Dutoit seemed set on proving why he is all too easily taken for granted on the international conducting scene. Hugely experienced, highly professional, a fine orchestral colourist and a renowned accompanist, he gives concerts that will never be a let-down, but are not often an out-of-the-ordinary experience either.

From the very first bars of Finlandia, Dutoit's expertise in sound and balance was evident, with the double-basses providing a tough underpinning of Sibelius's idiomatic call to attention on the brass and timpani. Yet overall, the performance failed to engage.

In the opening movement of Grieg's piano concerto, in which "scheduling difficulties" meant the replacement of the advertised soloist Mikhail Pletnev by Boris Berezovsky, Dutoit kept the piece's warhorse tendencies admirably under control, allowing the lovely minor-key exchanges between the pianist and the flute and horn to gleam afresh.

The opening movement of Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony was perhaps not atmospheric and oppressive enough. However, the horn solo in the andante was superbly played and the movement perfectly shaped so that the irruption of the symphony's motto theme was spine-tingling. By now, conductor and orchestra were fully engaged.

Best of all was the finale, with the Philharmonia playing out of their skins in some of Tchaikovsky's most exciting writing and Dutoit bringing the motto theme home movingly to its conclusion.