This concert marked the 35th anniversary to the day of Riccardo Muti's debut with the Philharmonia, of which he was principal conductor from 1973 to 1982. Throughout, there was a sense of history being revisited. Two of the works in his programme - Beethoven's The Consecration of the House Overture and the Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition - were among those he conducted at the Fairfield Hall in Croydon, all those years ago. The printed programme, meanwhile, made much of "the Muti years" as marking a high point in the Philharmonia's history.

In fact, Muti was - and remains - both popular and controversial. His style divides opinion. Flamboyant and authoritative in the eyes of some, he strikes others as being rigid and unyielding. He is ideally suited to both tonight's works, however. The retro, at times severely classical quality of Beethoven's overture was very much to the fore, and the final peroration was electrifying. Pictures, meanwhile, was a thrilling display of pure orchestral virtuosity, with every flash of colour thrillingly clear and every dynamic shift immaculately negotiated. Other conductors have exposed greater emotional depth in the score, though few, I suspect, have performed it with such pleasurable brilliance.

In between came Schumann's Piano Concerto with Radu Lupu as soloist. Lupu's ability to combine strength with delicacy makes him ideal in Schumann. As always, he generates a remarkable sense of intimacy in performance, so that you take away the occasional impression of having eavesdropped on someone else's private thoughts. Muti and the Philharmonia did not quite match the sheer poetry of his playing, but this was a remarkable experience nevertheless.