Josef Suk's Asrael Symphony is something of an acquired taste. Dating from 1907, it forms Suk's response to the deaths, first of his father-in-law and mentor Dvorak in 1904, then of his wife a year later. Named after the Islamic angel of death, it is a work of unrelieved mourning, conceived on a vast scale. Suk's music has points in common with Mahler and Janacek, though neither dealt with grief so unremittingly. It is a masterpiece, but you would not want to hear it on a regular basis.

Libor Pesek, conductor laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, is widely regarded as one of its finest interpreters. He drags you to hell and back with it, unleashing fearsome sounds that shred your nerves. The whole thing swung between rage and exhaustion, with pulverising drum strokes and aggressive brass flourishes collapsing into numbed chords from strings and woodwind. It took the RLPO to its technical and expressive limits and occasionally beyond. Some of it was less than beautiful, though beauty is not always appropriate in so traumatic a work.

Its companion piece was a new Oboe Concerto by the Israeli composer Haim Permont, written for, and given its world premiere by, the RLPO's principal oboist, Jonathan Small. At its centre is a sustained elegy for oboe d'amore and strings, all poised elegance and orientalist touches. Elsewhere, postmodernism reigns, with much Stravinskyan rhythmic chugging and cadenzas. It is too long and inspirationally thin, but it formed a fine display piece for Small's formidable talents, and he played it with great commitment and expressive grace.