PROMS / Notices : Philharmonia / Flor - Royal Albert Hall / Radio 3

Claus Peter Flor became Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia last September. He has a tireless sensitivity to dynamics, colour and articulation typical of the best Eastern work (he comes from Leipzig), and represents a notable rounding-out of the Philharmonia's team. For Weber's Freischutz overture he drew his hand through the air and the notes seemed to steal into the silence he had created. The horn theme, arriving in an enchanted landscape, assumed a childlike solemnity that was radiant, never pompous - perfect for Brahms. Violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky and cellist Mischa Maisky, richly expressive, discovered the gypsy exhilaration under the muscle-bound concert cadences of the Double Concerto and brought out the strange, lop-sided tenderness of the second movement. Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony was let loose like an arrow: the pulse was so light and graceful that it flew. If a London orchestra can play like this on a Sunday afternoon, there's hope.