It's not every day that Nottingham hosts the premiere of a new work by a major contemporary composer. Judith Weir's still, glowing is a brief but intense study in gently pulsating orchestral textures. In fact, it does just what the title suggests.

Its subtle creation of light effects through sound meant that Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony followed as an almost ideal partner: full sunlight after a tentative dawn. Sinfonia Viva chose an unfamiliar version of the symphony to demonstrate their ability to marry light, airy, transparent surfaces to rhythmic vitality. Conductor André de Ridder, in his attention to the surprising detail of this 'revised' edition, never lost sight of the bigger, vividly atmospheric picture.

The orchestra's classical credentials were well proved by their elegantly phrased yet highly dramatic rendition of Mozart's overture to Don Giovanni as well as their accompaniment in Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto – both works suggesting darkness and menace beneath their glittering surfaces. Soloist Alexandra Dariescu gave a stylish, purposeful and robust performance of the concerto with clean attack and clarity of articulation. The finale seemed particularly ominous, emerging as it did from the deeply quiet slow movement where time seemed to stand still.

WILLIAM RUFF