Dvorak and Janacek are usually thought to represent different sides of Czech music: Dvorak the pastoral romantic, and Janacek the eccentric early modernist. But Charles Mackerras's concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra told a different story. Celebrating the centenary of Dvorak's death and 150 years since the birth of Janacek, his performances of Janacek's Taras Bulba and Dvorak's Sixth Symphony revealed connections between the expressive worlds of both.

Taras Bulba is one of Janacek's most iconoclastic contributions to the orchestral repertoire. On one hand, it is a programmatic fantasy, inspired by the Russian patriotism of a novel by Gogol; on the other, it is a demonstration of the uniqueness of Janacek's musical imagination, with its blaring brass melodies and strident string lines. Mackerras and the Philharmonia created a taut symphonic progression from the work's unpredictable changes of mood and texture. Not only did each of the three movements move inexorably towards its climax, but the whole piece culminated in the coda to the last movement, and music of massive, clangorous power. This was a fundamentally lyrical journey, a celebration of Slavic melody.

It was a performance that made Janacek sound like a successor to Dvorak, yet the performance of the Sixth Symphony was full of febrile energy as well as lyricism. Mackerras created an unstoppable momentum that made this piece, supposedly the most reflective of Dvorak's symphonies, an imposing, dynamic experience. The moment when the main tune in the first movement returned, after a mysterious central section, was thrillingly realised, as the melody was crowned by a huge brass fanfare.

Mackerras conjured a distinctive sound from the Philharmonia, voluptuous in the slow movement and furiously exciting in the dance-like third movement. The finale was the most extreme movement of the symphony: what began as a quiescent, chorale-like melody became a powerful peroration, as Mackerras whipped the orchestra into a frenzy in the final bars.