It fell to shaken Conductor Laureate Andrew Litton to make the formal announcement of Yakov Kreizberg’s death at the age of 51.

This concert was dedicated to the former Principal Conductor of the BSO (1995-2000) and prefaced by a poignant performance of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise.

The scheduled programme began with a magnificent account of Liszt’s Les Preludes which alludes to various stages of life and hints at the final trumpet.

A sure draw to the concert hall is that wonderful violinist Nicola Benedetti, even in a work as unusual as Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No.1.

Its palette is lyrically exotic from the beginning and when the violin enters in high register, set against a diffuse orchestral tapestry, we knew we were on a fantasy voyage of discovery.

Cast as a single movement there follows fly-away violin lines, the heavy power of tuttis, enormous orchestral crescendos and above all Benedetti’s searing, shimmering, scintillating articulation of this extraordinary work.

Litton’s own tour-de-force came in Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3 in which there emerged a degree of exotic affinity in the lush orchestration.

The Dies Irae exerts influence at the core, yet the music swings from sweet melody to rocketing climaxes and infused with much magical instrumentation.

Litton’s lithesome direction urged propulsive playing from the finely honed BSO.