We're not used to thinking of Brahms as a noisy iconoclast, but in Charles Mackerras's performance of the First Symphony with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the last movement shone with fiery energy. Instead of sounding like Beethoven's Tenth, or a self-conscious attempt to position himself within the canons of musical tradition, the piece exploded into new symphonic territory. This was Brahms as revolutionary firebrand.

This was the first of two concerts presenting all four symphonies and both piano concertos, and included all of the minor key work. Mackerras's interpretative approach to Brahms is itself radical, and comes from returning to performance conditions that Brahms himself would have recognised, using a relatively small orchestra, delicate fluctuations of tempo and dynamic, and selective use of vibrato in the strings. But the First Symphony never sounded like a lesson in historical authenticity. Instead, the players were released by Mackerras's intellectual energy, just as they revealed usually hidden details of Brahms's score. The second movement glowed with a lyrical intensity, and the first movement was an essay in dramatic tension.

Their performance of the Fourth Symphony was just as illuminating, and the finale's fusion of archaic Baroque structures and romantic musical language sounded shockingly modern. Mackerras found an ideal partnership with soloist Christian Zacharias in the First Piano Concerto. Their performance was full of elemental emotional contrasts: the slow movement was an impassioned love song, and the finale was a riotous dance, with an obbligato accompaniment of impassioned foot stomping from Zacharias. Never has Brahms sounded further from the "leviathan maunderer" of George Bernard Shaw's description.