In his 75th year, Alun Hoddinott, the prolific doyen of Welsh composers, can look forward to being feted by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Lizard, given its premiere in this concert, kicked off the season's celebration.

The piece is an orchestral tone-poem, Straussian in dimension and orchestration, and based on poetry rather than programmatic narrative. Gwyn Thomas's verse describes a lizard basking on an ancient wall in the sun in Provence; this conjures languor, but Hoddinott's imagination seized instead on the reptile's small darting movements and the effect of bright light on the creature's skin. His characteristically glittering sheen of woodwind and percussion, contrasting with smooth brass chords and string lines, achieved an engagingly shimmering haze. But ultimately, the flurry of activity that brought the work to an end with a quick flourish of the tail had the effect of an anticlimax.

The sybaritic feel of Lizard could hardly have been further removed from the comparative austerity and anguish of Szymanowski's Stabat Mater. For the BBC National Chorus of Wales, who have suffered something of a crisis of identity lately, this was a chance to show their considerable mettle. Both here and in Duruflé's Requiem they responded nobly to the quiet entreaties of conductor Tadaaki Otaka, while soloists Mireille Delunsch, Sarah Connolly and Robert Hayward made eloquent contributions. Otaka may not be particularly known for his choral work, but the utter sincerity and clarity of these performances created a vivid impression.

So, too, did the finesse of Ravel's Pavane pour une Infante Défunte, emphatically not a makeweight here. At the end, Otaka, modest as ever, stood back as though he had had little to do with the evening's success. In reality, he had everything to do with it.