In his concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra this autumn, Colin Davis is celebrating his 80th birthday with programmes devoted to the composers who mean the most to him. He began, naturally enough, with Mozart, conducting two performances of the Requiem, in the Süssmayer completion, with the London Symphony Chorus and a quartet of young soloists. In the first concert, the Requiem had been prefaced by more Mozart, while for the second, Gidon Kremer was the soloist in Elgar's Violin Concerto.

Kremer's concerto repertory is wonderfully wide and he is always a compelling performer, and this was no exception. In the first movement, Davis's emphatic, rich-toned way with the orchestral tuttis provided the perfect foil for Kremer's wistful, rhapsodic musings, the violin tone cool and silvery without ever undervaluing the expressive weight of Elgar's solo lines. Kremer's sense of the music's continuity was exemplary, too - the slow movement seemed spun from a seamless solo line, its muted colours subtly changing, while the finale was full of tinglingly precise figuration, its energy a constant joy. The character of this great concerto seemed more protean and complex than ever.

Davis's approach to the Requiem was, as you might expect, broad, unashamedly traditional, and none the worse for that. It contained both tragic grandeur and high drama, with the Dies Irae pointing the way towards the theatrical vividness of some 19th-century settings, but nothing was remotely sentimental or self-pitying. The soloists (Marie Arnet, Anna Stéphany, Andrew Kennedy and Darren Jeffery) were nicely balanced, with the bass Jeffery making an especially fine impression in the Tuba Mirum, alongside the suavest possible trombone solo; the whole performance should work well on the LSO's own CD label.