Octogenarian Charles Mackerras is not a conductor we would automatically associate with Mahler, though after his performance of the Fourth Symphony with the Philharmonia that is a view we may have to change. Mackerras has, of course, the reputation of being able to infuse new life into anything he chooses to perform, and his interpretation of the Fourth was predictably radical.

The Symphony opens with mock 18th-century artificiality and ends with a depiction of the music of paradise as heard in the imagination of a child. Innocence, however, is contrasted with the bitterness of experience: at its centre, the score examines the elation and despair of the human condition, often with uncompromising force.

It's an easy work to sentimentalise, though Mackerras's approach was often coolly stark. The counterpoint had a sinewy clarity throughout. His speeds were frequently on the swift side - the great adagio pressed forward with a relentless tread, in marked contrast to most interpreters, who aspire to spiritual calm and stasis at this point. At the end, there was violence even in paradise. There were intermittent drawbacks. The vocal line of the last movement lies a fraction too low for soprano Sarah Fox. Mahler's symphonies aren't ideally suited to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where the climaxes tend to overload.

The first half of the concert consisted of music by Mozart, and we were consequently in more quintessentially Mackerras territory. He gave a fiery performance of the overture to La Clemenza di Tito, its pomp undercut by hints of emotional crisis at every turn. Piotr Anderszewski was the soloist in Piano Concerto No 17, K453, playing with calm lucidity until he got to the cadenzas, which were intensely Romantic and refulgent. The central andante was performed with such concentrated emotional depth that the audience held its breath throughout.