Jaap van Zweden puts fresh manpower into Mahler

The Mahler work alluded to in this concert's title was his Symphony No 1, Titan. There's some logic to being non-specific. Many posit that when you've heard one Mahler symphony you've heard them all. To wit: a recurrent interchange of artlessness, Austrian folk-song, chorales, wonderment in nature and a morbid obsession with death.

Anticipating a conductor's fresh stamp on Mahler's long, neurotic work often disappoints, but Jaap van Zweden clearly delighted Friday's audience with what he drew from a stage brimming with manpower.

The foot-stamping peasants that open the second movement with their rustic dancing exposed some seriously sinewy thighs. The strings dug deeper into their reserves of tone than they've probably ever done before, allowing them to slip easily into the ensuing snapshot of higher society life, tastefully balancing decorum with a touch of the louche.

The third movement's caprice, from funeral procession to a marching band knees-up, were given a softer than usual contrast, as though seen more through a child's wide eyes than a scarred adult's.

The finale proved an authoritative exercise in time management, with van Zweden applying the spurs, notably in passages that look backwards to previously stated material and threaten to impose structural stasis.