This concert marked Nigel Kennedy's return to what he describes as "probably the greatest violin concerto of them all", namely the Brahms. As you might expect, he has strong views on how to perform it. "A fantastic technique and sound production," he states in a programme note, "are not (as in some other concertos) sufficient to tackle the philosophical and interpretational demands of Brahms's composition." He left us in the dark as to what the concerto's "philosophical demands" might be, though he played it wonderfully well.

Viewing it as a work of heightened contrasts, he set out its emotional parameters at the beginning, with an account of the first movement exposition that juxtaposed an abrasive statement of the first subject with a supremely lyrical treatment of the second. What followed contained moments of harshness as well as beauty, but was always expressive and alive. Rather than opt for one of the usual cadenzas by Joseph Joachim or Fritz Kreisler, however, he offered one of his own. Combining the concerto's main themes with Gypsy folk music, it strayed stylistically too far from Brahms for comfort.

There was high voltage playing, too, from the Royal Philharmonic under Andrew Litton: before the interval, they gave us a suitably rousing performance of Brahms's Academic Festival Overture and a restrained, unsentimental account of Elgar's Enigma Variations. After the concerto, meanwhile, the encores went on into the night. Best among them was Johan Halvorsen's Passacaglia on a Theme by Handel, staggeringly done by Kennedy and the RPO's principal cellist David Cohen. Throughout, there was a fair bit of the usual Kennedy banter, which you either like or you don't. But there was also plenty to remind us of the tangible delight he finds in music-making, which he communicates better than most.