Music / Different teams, same league: LPO; Philharmonia Royal Festival Hall

Whatever the current state of morale amid the rumours and leaks, the London Philharmonic produced much exceptional playing for their guest conductor Mark Wigglesworth at the Festival Hall on Tuesday. The often very fine performance of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony which crowned the evening's programme yielded a number of passages which were remarkable for the sheer quality of the sound produced.

Wigglesworth had envisaged very clearly the particular textural resonance required to carry forward Sibelius's symphonic argument, and the orchestra responded keenly. The clarion call of trumpets over rocking strings after the first climax, for instance, invested that moment with haunting presence, while later the fog bank of 'pianississimo' strings creeping around the bassoon's lonely calls was most memorably realised.

The vital role that sonority plays in Sibelian dialectic was superbly realised here. But in the extended acceleration that characterises the second half of the movement, too much pace was generated at an early stage and necessitated a breathless final chase. Earlier there had been a touching performance of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, with the mezzo Jard van Nes committed to the music's internal drama; Wigglesworth was as sensitive to the variegated hues of Mahler's textures as to Sibelius's Nordic palette.

Two days later the Philharmonia Orchestra was on a positive high. The playing in a Russian programme under Yevgeny Svetlanov was of a memorable grandeur and intensity, and the shattering interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony which closed the programme will surely have lodged permanently in the minds of all who heard it.

In a manner that is peculiarly Russian, Svetlanov encouraged the orchestra to dwell upon the moment with a passionate focus. But this immediacy was never achieved at the expense of Tchaikovsky's marvellously balanced overall span, short-term expressive gains somehow fuelling long- term structure. The virtuosity which the orchestra brought to bear was outstanding in detail and in ensemble coherence.

Peter Donohoe's thoroughly individual approach to Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto invested it with a rare drama and range of contrasts. There were times when his and Svetlanov's headlong impetus threatened to derail the performance, but their boldness brought new light to bear on a masterpiece which has long been in danger of becoming hackneyed.