Head buried in the score, Nelsons nonetheless holds a firm grip on the relentless motor rhythms powering the event’s premiere, commissioned from Steffen Schleiermacher…Skride gives a requiescal sort of performance of unruffled poise, without an ugly note in it…The Gewandhaus players often cover themselves in glory…and, if nothing else, show themselves adaptable to the changing winds of taste in music that they can doubtless play with their eyes shut.

Baiba Skride is the soloist in Berg’s Violin Concertos and the two Latvian musicians make for fine partners in this work. She plays with almost supernatural clarity and purity, devoid of showy gestures, remaining still and calm in a slightly billowy blue dress.

These are stellar performances from artists who know exactly what they want to say, and in such a way as to fix the attention firmly on the music rather than themselves.