It suited the piece, though at first the signs were not good with the violinist overcooking the vibrato on the rich opening theme, and parting company with the orchestra on more than one rallentando.

This was soon evened out, helped by Vassily Sinaisky's sympathetic pointing and shaping of the accompaniment, and as Little settled she secured a more lyrical turn of phrase. The cadenza in particular was spot on, the lead in to the finale atmospherically weighted by the strings, the folksy themes then played with evident affection. The odd tuning issue aside, Little was a strong advocate of this sunny, tuneful piece.

The mood darkened after the interval as Sinaisky put together a stunningly-played and striking account of Shostakovich's wartime masterpiece, better still than Bernard Haitink's performance with the London Symphony Orchestra last year. A broadly expansive first movement increasingly tightened its grip on proceedings, pointed all the while towards the naked fortissimo (in this performance carrying all before it); the ensuing desolation was profoundly moving.

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The two 'scherzo' movements were driven but not rushed, the march-waltz conflict of the second movement nicely caught and the cutting edge of the splintered third movement chords was exposed. As the shrill wind phrases rained down the head-on impact of the passacaglia was shattering, with the resulting bass ostinato empty in response. Sinaisky judged the move to C major for the last movement expertly, posing the question of just how comfortable (or not) this supposed resolution might be.

This was a performance with many fine individual contributions - Gillian Callow's cor anglais, the bass clarinet of Philip Jones and Rachel Chatwin's piccolo stood out in particular - but Sinaisky had the whole ensemble so well drilled and involved there was simply not a weak link.

The opening overture to Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov was no trifle either, and gave a hint of the joys to come in nicely pointed, affectionate solos for clarinet and horn, along with the unusual harmonic language of the opening, well treated by the conductor.

Another reason to envy Mancunian concert-goers - not only do they have the Hallé, but the BBC's northerly orchestra is also on scintillating form.

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