The second half of Nodoka Okisawa’s debut concert with the Philharmonia gave us the freshest most thoughtful account of Brahms Symphony No 1 I’ve heard in a long time. She has a neatly confident conducting style and is, evidently full of ideas.

This performance gave us, for example, crystal clear pizzicato in the opening movement (and later in the symphony), a superbly evocative oboe solo in the andante and leader Zsolt-Tihamer Visontay’s solo at the end of the andante was beautiful especially in the final arpeggio – dying away into the silence. Moreover, very much her own woman, she took the fourth movement unusually slowly and milked the emotional “Brahmsian” moments, especially the horn solo, for all they were worth – and that’s not fashionable. Okisawa is very good at judging pauses and balancing lightness with lush legato. All in all this 1868 symphony was made to sound newly minted – 155 years after its premiere and that’s quite an achievement.

Visontay, incidentally, is a fascinating player and leader to watch. He is too tall to fold easily into his chair and he dances continually with his feet (clad on this occasion in very shiny shoes) which often leave the ground as the musical drama soars. And his rapport with the orchestra is warmly palpable.

Before the interval Michael Collins seduced the audience with a spirited account of Weber’s clarinet concerto – lots of creamy F minor. Collins, every inch a chamber musician, constantly turned to conductor or leader reminding me that it’s actually quite unnatural to play a concerto facing the audience with your back to the people you’re working with. He found oodles of lyrical beauty in the Mozartian middle movement, especially in the duet with the horn, and I enjoyed the merry insouciance he brought to the very familiar Rondo: Allegretto.

The concert opened with a relatively subdued performance of Weber’s Overture, Der Frieschutz. It took the orchestra, working with a conductor who is new to it, a few moments to settle and there were one or two ragged entries but from then on this concert was both interesting and arresting.

Susan Elkin