After a career spent anguishing over his abilities as a composer, Rachmaninov has enjoyed far greater posthumous acclaim than he could have imagined. Even so, an entire concert devoted to his music will deter almost as many as it will attract, especially when it contains the hour-long Second Symphony.

So engaging the Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner to play Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was a smart move. He seems incapable of giving a routine performance of even the most overplayed repertoire - yet there is not even the merest hint of gimmickry in his performances. What makes his playing so special is its combination of glorious depth and richness of tone with fine musical intelligence; he played even the luscious 18th variation of the Paganini with exquisite delicacy. Vassily Sinaisky and the BBC Philharmonic were decidedly heavy-handed at the beginning, where Goerner was gently playful. But they quickly adjusted, and by the 12th variation were responding magically to Goerner's every nuance.

In an uncharacteristically untidy performance for this orchestra, Respighi's orchestration of three of the Etudes-Tableaux sounded either bottom-heavy or strident much of the time. The Funeral March proved especially resistant to subtleties of texture and balance and never quite dragged itself free of its own weight.

Happily, the performance of the Second Symphony was anything but ponderous. With vibrant colours in the outer movements and glorious interweaving wind solos in the Adagio, the BBC Philharmonic did full justice to Rachmaninov's glittering score. Sinaisky judged its changes of mood and pacing perfectly; the slow movement never once descended into schmaltz and he infused an assertive energy into the Scherzo and Finale that might even have convinced Rachmaninov that he was a decent composer.