MUSIC / Oriental airs: Anthony Payne on Docklands Sinfonietta and St Petersburg Philharmonic

The Docklands Sinfonietta has quickly established a reputation for fresh, uncompromising programme building, and its November series of Queen Elizabeth Hall concerts opened in London on Tuesday with a characteristic concert under Sian Edwards.

It began with a work by Takemitsu, in whose creative make-up it has become something of a cliche to find more of French music, specifically Debussy, than of Japanese culture. Certainly the beautiful little piece, Tree Line, was saturated with Gallic harmonic textures. But the contemplative structure, the sense of oneness with nature betrays an Eastern sensibility. Takemitsu has achieved a fascinating rapprochement between these opposing traditions, and in a work like Tree Line, conveys an intense poetic vision.

It was most sensitively and atmospherically played, but the larger forces required for the remaining pieces failed to recapture that form despite the conductor's energy and enthusiasm. There were things to enjoy, nevertheless, not least in Thomas Zehetmair's freshly conceived interpretation of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.

It was quickly evident that the piece was not going to get a regular leisurely reading, as both conductor and soloist sustained a lively progress through one of Beethoven's grandest opening movements. Certain corners were turned a little abruptly, and while we appreciated the attempt to avoid the romantic performing style frequently burdened by this concerto, it did result in a lack of spaciousness.

Finally, there was a routine performance of Stravinsky's Pulcinella. Pleasantly accomplished singing by Alwyn Mellor, Paul Agnew and Andrew Slater enlivened it, but the orchestral textures rarely sparkled.

The following night there was an outstandingly fine programme in the Barbican's series Great Orchestras of the World. Under a masterful Mariss Jansons, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra opened with an electrifying account of Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, and then provided sonorous support for Maxim Vengerov in an unforgettable interpretation of Sibelius's Violin Concerto. Characterised by an improvisatory freedom and a touchingly individual poetry, the performance revealed as many details of texture and structure as you are ever likely to hear, tracing a majestic journey from magical opening to heroic final coda.

The programme closed with one of the best performances I can recall of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, a work which, for all its marvellous qualities, sometimes falls flat at the close through unfocused rhythmic detail and faulty textural balance. All difficulties were made light of, however, in an interpretation of breathtaking virtuosity and rhythmic elan, and for once we were not left wondering whether the two-piano version of the work was not after all the better.