Berlioz's first stage work was dropped by the Paris Opera after just four performances in 1838. Thereafter, Europe's leading venue was closed to him, and it would be 25 years before his next opera was presented to the public.

Even now, Benvenuto Cellini is a rarity; the last major UK production was at Covent Garden in the 1970s. Then, as in this first of two concert performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, the conductor was Sir Colin Davis, still the composer's leading advocate.

It is a far from easy score to perform, with complex rhythms and harmonies and surprising turns in every other bar. No wonder it threw performers as well as audiences when it was first written. But in Davis' hands, its originality and imagination are fully vindicated.

The cast attack the piece with skill and immense vigour. Though his tone is a little effortful at times, Gregory Kunde rises to the full stature of Berlioz's thinly disguised self-portrait of the artist as romantic hero. Laura Claycomb sings prettily as his beloved Teresa, with Isabelle Cals debonair as Cellini's sidekick Ascanio and Peter Coleman-Wright squeezing every ounce of comedy from Cellini's rival Fieramosca.

The London Symphony Chorus has its work cut out with one of the most musically complex roles 19th-century opera has to offer. Though their tone is breathy in places, they thoroughly enjoy themselves in the carnival scene. Davis's identification with the score brings out the best in his forces, allowing this neglected work to register as a masterpiece.

· Repeat performance on Friday. Box office: 020-7638 8891