MAHLER and others have rescored Robert Schumann, and the original version of his Manfred Overture which launched the concert didn't make you spring to Schumann's defence.

This evocative portrait of Byron's romantic hero was painted with thick daubs of the brush. How very much more astute Tchaikovsky's writing seemed in his First Piano Concerto, allowing a virtuoso pianist to surf the orchestral waves of melody.

Franz Johnston brought to the solo part an interpretative nous that transcended flashy showmanship – coupled with amazing agility in quicksilver runs and the snatches of Slav folk idioms.

Beethoven rocks. Especially in his driving Seventh Symphony, with which Derek Williams made his local conducting debut over 30 years ago, and to which he returned at the weekend.

Beethoven's pieces might conduct themselves, as has been argued, but only up to a point. Phrasing in the restrained second movement had soul, while elsewhere the fiery insistent rhythms were buoyant.

With some of the NSO shedding their jackets in the warm Albert Hall, the symphony carried the well-knit ensemble's 2008-09 season to a jubilant close.

Peter Palmer