Both performances had the presence and clarity that are among the hallmarks of an outstanding orchestra. Fischer took the concerto briskly. With hardly a pause between the movements, and a marvellous, laconic casualness to the interlude-like second and fourth movements, he managed to make the whole work seem urgent yet not driven; efficient without becoming perfunctory. The BFO's excellence is founded upon its large body of wonderfully disciplined strings, so the fugue at the heart of the last movement was launched on a marvellously sinewy violin line. As that finale drew to a close, it was startling to hear the detail – every voice precise – in the spectral slithering that provides the calm before the storm of the final climax. In the Brahms, too, the dominance of the string section was hard to ignore. Even some chords, in the third movement especially, seemed differently voiced from usual, with the woodwind's contributions very much subordinated, though the sonorous effect in the final movement was undeniably irresistible. Fischer's approach to the symphony was hard to characterise: while some sections had an unfussy directness and moved very purposefully, others, like the opening of the Andante, were unexpectedly measured – not so much as to make the performance drag, but enough to make it less of a magnificently coherent whole.