Samuel Barber's violin concerto remains on the threshold of classic status this side of the Atlantic. The work has its awkward aspects - an occasionally overwritten orchestral part and an imbalance between the lyricism of the first two movements and the short, energetic finale. In the US, though, the concerto is rightly revered. And with advocates like the violinist Joshua Bell, it cannot be long before it takes its proper place in the pantheon here.

Like his compatriot Hilary Hahn did in her outstanding recording of the concerto, Bell took an objective, almost cool view of the rhapsodic opening movement, in this first concert of the Minnesota Orchestra's European tour. His superb sense of line brought subtle insights in the andante, conjuring that quintessential Barberian combination of emotional intimacy and distance. As if to underline how much Bell had reined himself in during the concerto, he dispatched Henri Vieuxtemps's Yankee Doodle variations as a dazzling encore.

As one would expect from the imaginative Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota programme was exceptionally well constructed. John Adams's Slonimsky's Earbox, written for the Hallé in 1995 and a turning point in the composer's move away from minimalism, allowed the orchestra to display some pulsatingly loud virtuosity, though its most haunting passages are its rare moments of restraint.

In the second half, Vänskä offered a fast, well-prepared account of Beethoven's Eroica symphony. The opening movement, tense and exciting, fared best, along with the finale. But in the funeral march, weight and tone were sacrificed for bite and momentum, and the interpretation slightly lost its way.