The penultimate instalment of Bernard Haitink's Beethoven series with the LSO arrived at the Fifth Symphony, via the less ubiquitous Eighth, and for once it was hard to say which was the more attractive destination. Certainly, at the programme's repeat performance, the Eighth emerged as a fleet-footed masterpiece, more substantial than it is sometimes given credit for.

First, though, came the Overture to Fidelio, and with it an immediate indication of the care for sound quality we could expect from the rest of the concert, with the long wind notes in the slow introduction kept free of expression, so that the barest hint of string vibrato conjured a ray of warmth. Sharing a similar energy and even the odd thematic idea, the overture was an ideal springboard for the Eighth Symphony. In the first movement, the violins engaged in some vibrant antiphonal sparring - they sat opposite each other, in a configuration that the orchestra is considering adopting as its default - but there was little call for aggression in Haitink's neat, sparing direction.

The grumbling double basses that can make the second movement sound so portly seemed lithe and streamlined here. And although the duetting horns in the middle of the third movement lacked focus, the opening of the finale re-established excitement, with a whispered buzz that found an echo in the tingle Haitink drew from the orchestra as he began the race to the finish.

If Haitink's sense of propulsion made the Eighth Symphony seem all of a piece, this was less in evidence in the Fifth: during its early movements, the extra instruments on stage seemed to add a hint of stodginess. In the finale, however, it all came together, with Haitink leading a performance of such exhilaration and, finally, playfulness that you'd swear even those sanguine feet left the podium at least once. The culmination of this series in the great Choral Symphony still has to be this weekend's hot ticket.