Halle/De Ridder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

There could be no better a conductor than André de Ridder to convey the five cryptic and colourful messages Henze has compiled from his last opera, L'Upupa and the Triumph of Filial Love. De Ridder worked closely with the octogenarian composer at the work's premiere in 2003 in Salzburg and since then his career, like the Upupa epops, or hoopoe, of the opera's title, has taken flight. He succeeded Edward Gardner as assistant conductor at the Hallé and though that 18-month relationship has come to an end, the orchestra wants to see more of him with a series of guest appearances lined up.

In arranging the 20-minute orchestral suite Five Messages for the Queen of Sheba, here receiving its British premiere, Henze has woven fragments of vocal lines into the instrumental fabric. A talking hoopoe bears messages from the Queen in this exotic bird's eye view of themes from 1001 Nights. The messages deal with the attempts of the Grand Vizier's sons to recover the golden-feathered hoopoe, which has flown the royal nest. In suitably dazzling orchestral colours, and with Henze's characteristic clarity, their personalities and encounters are strikingly illustrated. In true Arabian-fairy-tale fashion, there's a wicked lie, a musical battle and a surprise appearance by the hero.

De Ridder's technical control of the instrumental forces and dynamic range was subtle, with as many pastel shades and glowing, silky sounds as there was spiky plumage in the orchestra's scintillating account of these messages. I hope they have another airing soon, at the BBC Proms perhaps, with the broadcast they deserve.

Isabelle Faust gave a beautifully sustained reading of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, spiced up with the first performance of imaginative, poetic new cadenzas by Katia Tchemberdji. But Faust's thoughtful, poised account fell short in terms of emotional engagement, with scarcely a hint of introspection in the larghetto. De Ridder and the Hallé provided a sympathetic, though not flawless, accompaniment, and at the start of the evening brought a refreshing zest and sense of forward motion to Beethoven's First Symphony.