When Tchaikovsky presented his Violin Concerto In D Op 35 to the original soloist, the player found it awkwardly difficult and declined to perform it. Happily for Tchaikovsky, braver violinists have since persevered.

Matthew Trusler’s rendition on Saturday was bold and self-assured, his bow moving close to the speed of light in the spectacular displays of scales, arpeggios and chords. But unfortunately he cut an otherwise static figure and you couldn’t help secretly wishing for a bit less speed and a bit more tune.

Fortunately, it is difficult to imagine a more characterful work than Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, which opened the concert.

Conductor Tadaaki Otaka was a modest presence at first – it took both the audience and orchestra more than a beat to notice he had appeared on stage – but in the heat of In The Hall Of The Mountain King he came alive like a hyperactive marionette, summoning Ibsen’s thundering grotesques with a thrilling vigour.

By the close of Symphony 2 In D by Sibelius, the Philharmonic had the audience in a vice-like grip.

Returning to the stage for a fourth round of applause, the humble Otaka pointed to his watch and mimed it was bedtime.

Necessary, as I suspect after such a rousing night the audience could have applauded until dawn.