The 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth has, as one might expect, provoked considerable debate over the role of imperialist concerns in his output and their effect on his reputation. His admirers and detractors alike would agree, however, that Elgar is at his best when least overtly nationalistic, and Mark Elder and the Hallé's weekend-long celebration duly focused on three works - the Cello Concerto, the Second Symphony and the oratorio The Kingdom - that are marked by elements of ideological doubt and profound introspection.

The high point was the Second Symphony, which ranks among Elder's greatest interpretations. There were no intimations of plush Edwardian comfort, only a torrential, if superbly controlled, outpouring of emotion. The slow movement mingled despair with fierce exaltation, while the chromatic second subject of the first movement was reminiscent of Strauss, whom Elgar deeply admired. By its side, however, the Cello Concerto lacked emotional density. Elder conducted it with grave beauty, but his soloist, Truls Mork, seemed so anxious to wring out every shred of feeling that his playing bordered on the mannered.

The Kingdom, meanwhile, excites controversy over its quality. A personal re-affirmation of Elgar's Catholicism, it also aims at renewing the English choral tradition by dramatising the events of Pentecost in terms derived from Wagner's Parsifal. I confess to being among the minority that finds the resulting amalgam intractable. The performance, however, was tremendous in its sweep and fervour, with some blazing singing from the Hallé Choir, and a fine quartet of soloists led by the ecstatic soprano Anja Kampe. It was hard to imagine it better done, whatever one's qualms about the piece.