Halle/Mandeal, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

The Hallé's Principal Guest Conductor, Cristian Mandeal, is less well-known than he deserves to be in the UK, despite being an exceptional musician. The few known facts are that he is Romanian, studied with Karajan and is associated with the music of Bruckner, Brahms and his compatriot Enescu. As the first Principal Guest Conductor of the Hallé in its 151-year history, Mandeal was a dark horse but, since his appointment in 2005, he has proved an inspired interpreter of interesting repertoire.

Mandeal is tall and elegant, and he swoops on the podium only when strictly necessary. His movements are graceful, conveying a fluidity and immediacy with the players, who respond with alacrity. In an all-Rachmaninov programme, he could have been forgiven for the odd flailing hand – but his widely extended arms conveyed instead an easy flexibility, which never disrupted the flow of the music.

The first of three concerts of the same music in the orchestra's popular Opus One series opened with the composer's own arrangement of the ecstatic "Vocalise". The strings carried the tune that is so firmly associated with a languorous soprano, and they succeeded in creating atmospheric terraces of luscious sound.

Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto demands high-voltage virtuosity, which it got from the Russian-born Nikolai Demidenko. From the haunting opening bars – darkly poised and pulsating – Demidenko put the Concerto's range of tone ahead of any superficial pianistic fireworks. Yet, though he was elusive and elegiac in the slow movement, he hurtled into the finale with bravura and a fearless pace as the Hallé flaunted its own fire and fury. It was electrifying but also poetic.

Mandeal's keen ear for the letter of the score also benefited Rachmaninov's Third Symphony, played, on a rare outing, with affection as well as conviction. Again, with woodwind full of spirit too, the strings rose confidently to the risky challenges, sensitive to the work's exquisite details of sonority and texture, with the dynamic hotspots superbly articulated. Mandeal drew playing of warmth and flair, imposing a wholeness of musical vision that accommodated plenty of thrills and some shattering climaxes, brass notes unfurling, in the dance-like finale. This reading never sounded arch or contrived, just enthralling in a dazzling kind of way.