Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Lighthouse, Poole

An air of old-fashioned charm and gentlemanly elegance pervaded Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 17 with pianist Jean Louis Steuerman partnered by conductor Takuo Yuasa.

Beautifully proportioned, the melting melodic lines were effortlessly lucid with sufficient bravura to light up the cadenza. A thread of gravitas within the orchestra sets the Andante up as an emotive foil, Steuerman staging a powerfully lit cadenza.

The finale’s lyrical progression in a spirit of unhurried openness concluded in a Presto which the soloist filled with finesse, eschewing any thought of a mad dash; that was reserved for his final, joyful exit from the stage.

Yuasa’s account of Tchaikovsky’s fate-fuelled Symphony No 4 was, in many respects, relatively low key. Sure enough the brass made tremendous impact on entry and punched holes in the otherwise soft-toned episodes, thereby raising the tension.

Yuasa brought finely balanced ebb and flow to the oboe-led Andante, succeeded by that wonderful pizzicato based Scherzo in which the winds sang a lilting centrepiece.

Saving the whip for the finale, Yuasa cranked-up the emotion and fired-up the revelry, yet it seemed only here, at its last appearance, that the fate motif really betrayed the composer’s underlying insecurities.

Prokofiev’s piquantly scored Lieutenant Kije Suite was attractively played.