It is an odd setup for a Haydn symphony: cellist on conductor's podium with back to audience, orchestra clustered around him. The programme listed Steven Isserlis (the cellist in question) as a standard member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields string section, but there is nothing standard about having your own personal page-turner. Isserlis conducted Haydn's 13th from the cello – or rather from the hair, lurching side to side, curls shaking like a wet dog. The look was dramatic, but when he sat still for the slow movement's cello solo, the orchestra held together just fine.

Next on came Joshua Bell to conduct Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony from a specially demarked first violin chair, which might have been upholstered in broken glass for all his leaping about. The problem with the ASMF's current tour is that, despite the feigned egalitarianism, the orchestra gets sidelined as a vehicle for the two big-name guests.

This is a shame, because the orchestra sounds superb in its own right. They play modern instruments with the vigour and weightless virtuosity of the best period bands, bows ricocheting off strings, full of individuality but gelling as a cohesive and dynamic unit. Their sound was too small for the Usher Hall, but was still thrilling – the Mendelssohn buoyant and radiant, the Haydn gracefully poised.

When Isserlis and Bell were on stage together, neither of them conducted; instead, Ian Brown navigated Brahms's Double Concerto, and the ASMF responded with clout. Default ferocity masked the first movement's stateliness; the two-against-three rhythms were punched hard rather than played expansively. The soloists matched in ardency, instant lyricism and stunning control. But their sounds are not an ideal blend: Isserlis's low register gets murky when he overeggs it, so Bell's bright tone ends up winning the balance.