My final visit this summer proved to be one of the most exciting. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Alan Gilbert brought us a thrilling and beautifully crafted reading of Mahler’s Third Symphony. In many ways there is little more to say! What stuck forcefully was the amazing clarity of sound they produce. Where the Royal Albert Hall can still tend to fudge the tonal impact of large forces there was here a sense of openness and space within the melos which was retained even at the highest dynamic levels. At the other end of the scale, the hushed string tones, the solo harp, the distant rumbling of percussion hardly impinged upon us. Rarely has the hall this summer seemed so focussed and silent. There even seemed to be fewer coughs than usual.

Solo instrumentalists are world class, with exceptional performances from the first trombone in the opening movement and a sweet sounding off-stage trumpet in the third. Gerhild Romberger brought warmth and integrity to O Mensch! and the combined female forces of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Choir, Children’s Choir and Opera Chorus brought a lightness and fluidity to Es sungen drei Engel.

The final movement What Love tells me unfolded with a dignity and calm that had been prepared for in the turmoil of the earlier movements. Throughout Alan Gilbert brought a sense of the work as a single continuous whole which carries us on a traumatic journey to a triumphant conclusion. That a work of this brilliance was ignored for over half a century now seems difficult to believe.

Tonight the same forces bring us Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, back in its traditional place on the final Friday. Catch it some way or other – you will not be disappointed.