music Opening Gala Concert, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

The mobile may be daft but the acoustic is a definite improvement. David Fanning on the RLPO's return to the Art Deco decor of its reconditioned home

A lot of goodwill has gone into the pounds 10.3 million refurbishment of Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall - obviously so on the part of the fund- raisers, fund-givers, planners and executors, but also from the orchestra and audience, who endured a full season in the amplified-bathroom acoustic of the Anglican Cathedral while the building work was being done, and from the conductor Libor Pesek, who announced his intention of stand downing as Music Director two years ago but who has volunteered to stay on until the eventual appointment of a successor.

The goodwill was naturally shared by all who came to the Gala Opening on Thursday night, although for some of us it was soon severely strained. We were greeted by musical street entertainment of precisely the oppressive, beat-driven, mind-numbing kind from which a concert hall traditionally offers sanctuary. Once inside, appreciative glances at the handsome new stage and seating turned to scowls at the sub-Paul Klee mobile dominating the back wall, a ghastly dissonance with the hall's restored Art Deco interior.

When that mobile began to rotate, towards the climax of Graham Fitkin's World Premiere of Metal, unsuspected depths of daftness were plumbed. The music had been undemanding and ephemeral, like the accompaniment of a Copland score, only more slackly disciplined. Half-hearted lighting effects only served to highlight its thinness.

But all this was cosmetic. The real test began with Mozart's G major Piano Concerto (No 17, K 453), played with much care, intelligence and finesse by Imogen Cooper. Here the benefits of extensive adjustments to the acoustic could be felt. The Philharmonic Hall has always nurtured a pleasant, well-blended sound. Now it has a degree more immediacy and analytic clarity, without having lost its bloom. So first impressions are of money well spent in this area. The piano tone itself is admittedly still not the most ingratiating, but that may adjust or be adjustable. More worryingly, Pesek was curiously standoffish with the accompaniment and it was not until the Finale that he encouraged the kind of initiatives and responses his soloist so richly deserved.

Beethoven's Choral Symphony seemed an ideal choice for the occasion. Yet a sense of occasion was precisely what it lacked. The Philharmonic Choir strove mightily and sang well in tune but, at about half the realistic size, they were never likely to be able to deliver a true feeling of uplift. Catherine Robbin's mezzo-soprano was secure and well-placed, but the bass David Thomas struggled with his intonation and Peter Bronder's tenor was under-powered, while Lynne Dawson sang beautifully but joined the distinguished ranks of fine sopranos over-faced by her final ecstatic high B.

The orchestra sounded in fine shape and Pesek's interpretation was lucid and well enough prepared. He never seemed fully in touch with the visionary scope of the piece, however. Where was the grand design and where the attention to nuance and timing which have made many of his performances of the late-romantic repertoire so memorable? Surely not suppressed by an outdated notion of "Classical style"?

Gala Opening programme repeated tonight 7.30pm; main season begins on Wednesday (Libor Pesek conducts Tchaikovsky's Pathetique and Stravinsky's Petrushka), Philharmonic Hall, Hope Street, Liverpool. Booking: 0151-709 3789