It is common practice now for conductors of major symphony orchestras to make gestures towards period performance styles in classical symphonies. String numbers are often scaled down, vibrato may be cut out altogether and tempi are often significantly faster. Although there are plenty of occasions when this approach works brilliantly, without the speed and lightness of period instruments a modern orchestra can sound repressed.

Gianandrea Noseda's choice of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony was a particularly demanding one. Of all Beethoven's symphonies, it is the least obvious candidate for period treatment, lacking the dramatic outer movements that respond most warmly to it.

Although Noseda took few of the usual steps to emulate a period ensemble, he tackled tempo and textural issues head-on, especially in the inner movements. His decision to mute the strings in The Scene by the Brook took all the colour and life out of it straight away; in addition, the wind solos were pushed so far into the background that they were barely audible. Though it was clear that Noseda was aiming for a light, fluid texture, his approach fell on the wrong side of the path between airiness and insipidity. With the BBC Philharmonic rendered so lifeless, this movement dragged unbearably.

By contrast, the wind and horns could barely keep pace with Noseda's insanely fast tempi in the following movement. Playing it as a scherzo killed not only its dance-like character but also flattened the impact of the storm, and by extension, its magical transition to the finale.

All that repressed energy then exploded in a blistering performance of the Rite of Spring. With a liberated wind section throwing themselves into the most sadistic and violent music ever written, Noseda's virtuosic command of Stravinsky's score drew an electrifying response.