Though the reasoning behind Valery Gergiev's bringing together of composers as wildly different as Brahms and Szymanowski has become no clearer, in this week's two instalments of the LSO series, the conductor's aptitude for the latter rather than the former was amply confirmed. Brahms's Fourth Symphony fared significantly better than his Third, or than the so-called Haydn Variations, it built up a healthy head of steam, even if its colouristic range remained distinctly on the brash side, and the tensions that underpin the composer's tightly wound structures were still incompletely realised. As for the Third, wayward balance and uncertain momentum marred an account that veered towards the undistinguished.
Yet the altogether more rarefied world of the early 20th-century Polish master – whose music lies well beyond the central repertoire, and is often left for specialists to champion – drew the best from Gergiev, who summoned from his players performances of remarkable conviction and accomplishment. The teeming, ultra-glamorous surface of Szymanowski's opulent Third Symphony, The Song of the Night, maintained a sheeny iridescence that never felt overbright, even at the score's hedonistic climaxes, while a structure that can seem aimless took flight and held to its airborne course. Toby Spence floated his clean-edged tenor over the gorgeous textures conjured by the orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus.
The complex layers of the more astringent Fourth Symphony and Second Violin Concerto – both given additional propulsion by the impact of the folk music of the Tatra Mountains that infuses Szymanowski's final period – also found in Gergiev an inspired advocate. Bolstered by Denis Matsuev's brilliant account of the concertante piano part in the symphony, and Leonidas Kavakos's superbly expressive realisation of the violin concerto, these performances achieved a distinction that left the Brahms interpretations languishing in the shade.
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• This article was amended on 14 January 2012. The original made it sound as though Brahms's Third Symphony was the same piece as the Haydn Variations. This has been corrected.
