Mahler Youth Orchestra/Abbado, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

From the opening bars of Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, it was clear that Claudio Abbado's concert with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (the youth orchestra he founded in 1986) was going to be something special. The interlocking lines of the string fugue were so effortlessly balanced, and phrased with such complete understanding, that the piece seemed to be revealed for the first time.

The thrilling power of the orchestra's huge string section was unleashed even more impressively in the second movement, a riot of non-stop energy. A section for pizzicato strings suspended over creepy melodic lines for piano and Celesta seemed to turn the orchestra into a giant, threatening insect. The night music of the third movement flickered with spectral glissandos and eerie harmonics.

The commitment of these young European players - all under 26 - was astonishing. And Abbado was their inspiration: his energy and control seemed miraculous. The performance culminated in a passage when the dark-hued theme from the first movement was transformed into a voluptuous melody in the finale. It was an overpowering moment.

Martha Argerich was the dazzling soloist in Ravel's G major Piano Concerto, but this was Abbado's evening. His performance of Debussy's La Mer, far from painting an impressionistic wash of colour, had elemental power - thanks to the fast speeds he drew from the orchestra. Rarely have the waves of this music crashed with such vital, irresistible force.