Montreal Symphony Orchestra; Hsu Fei-ping, pianist; Charles Dutoit, conductor; Cultural Centre Concert Hall, March 8 Charles Dutoit is that rare conductor who has been faithful to one orchestra (admittedly fooling around with a few other orchestras on the side). Like Simon Rattle in Birmingham, Dutoit has built up the one-time provincial Montreal Symphony Orchestra into a world force. In two decades, he has made it a world force. Yet Montreal has never attempted to be terribly eclectic. Dutoit has a large storehouse of works from the past 150 years, but they virtually all hinge on the Gallic or Mediterranean. When he plays the Germans - as he did once on opening night - the results were not outstanding. When he played Ravel, the result was beyond compare. In fact, Dutoit has been the standard of Ravel against whom all other conductors are measured. And few measure up. This is obviously through a symbiotic of three minds: the composer, conductor and the orchestra flowering under his command. Sitting toward the back of the Cultural Centre, ensemble work inevitably sounds swampy, but Ravel's Alborada del gracioso displayed those pointillistic orchestral colours with the utmost sensitivity. This is a work where France elucidates Spain. The strange syncopated pulsing of the harp, the mysterious woodwinds, the precision of the song in the middle section were all spelled out with Dutoit's instinctive flair. Perhaps only Dutoit can combine the subtle flamenco with the sultry dusk, but he and his orchestra were stunning in both. The Schumann Piano Concerto was not so fortunate. China-born Hsu Fei-ping gave a finger-perfect reading, but the heart was missing. This was what Schumann should never be: cold and automatic. For the Shostakovich Fifth was as fluid and fluent as possible. Granted, this meant that the demonic became merely devilish, the jackboots became only jogging shoes. But all was absolved with an encore of Timothy Hutchins's flute solo in a Bizet movement that was heaven on earth.