This concert included Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 in E Flat (the Emperor); both pieces played by the Tonkunstler Orchestra a week earlier in Leeds.

The 50 strings produced a sumptuous and silken Mozart sound which some scholars now regard as “passe”. These weighty textures did not prevent conductor Andres Orozco-Estrada’s interpretation of the ebullient overture from crackling with all the excitement and promise that one could have wished for. Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, on the other hand, was hampered by the inferior three-quarter grand piano placed at Natasha Paremski’s disposal. Despite her best endeavours, the gifted young pianist could not replicate the myriad colouring and exquisite shading of dynamics that had characterised her performance in Leeds.

Bradford, however, boldly chose a rarity with which to end the programme – Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No 1 in C minor which he nicknamed The Saucy Maid. Although not yet quintessential Bruckner, this 45- minute symphony establishes the distinctive characteristics, such as the organ-like waves of sound and the construction of vast expanses from terse, repeated phrases.

Orozco-Estrada’s pacing of the four movements was exactly right, shaping and propelling the music, but not forcing it along. The orchestra responded with playing of luminous virtuosity to produce an engaging, radiant performance likely to win over Bruckner sceptics.

An appreciative audience was rewarded with an encore – the beautiful Amorosa from Ten Basque Melodies by Jesus Guridi.