The LSO, playing with the same distinction as ever, is poised at an interesting juncture. As the volatile Valery Gergiev prepares to take over from the patrician Colin Davis, the big question is not whether but how he will change the orchestra.

Meanwhile, one of the LSO's starriest guest conductors, Antonio Pappano, last night tackled Russian repertoire more naturally associated with Gergiev, demonstrating a marked contrast with the approach of the Mariinsky maestro.

He relished the operatic impulse of Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini, highlighting its graphic, gestural elements and whipping up Dante's infernal whirlwind with a theatrical tension that spoke of the tormented passions of the illicit lovers as much as the meteorological phenomenon with which they were punished.

In the second-movement waltz of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, Pappano found the dark, seductive quality as well as the macabre bite. His sound-world is rich and voluptuous, where Gergiev's is savage and earthy. Not that Pappano lacks dynamism, but he seeks beauty even in the eye of the storm. For all his Italianate lyricism and sensuality, his climaxes pack a powerful punch, albeit one delivered in a velvet glove.

Between the Russian items came Saint-Saens's Second Piano Concerto. In the first movement the soloist, Simon Trpceski, dazzled with his handling of the often predictable virtuosity, transfiguring the banal into magical Chopinesque filigree. The second movement is an irreverent subversion of the Mendelssohnian scherzo, and Trpceski and Pappano alike played up the French operetta interludes for all they were worth.

Returning to the elfin style for the movement's throw-away conclusion, however, they drew delighted gasps and a spontaneous round of applause from a capacity audience. With talents like these in the wings, the LSO clearly has more golden times ahead.