The problem with a programme of Wagner extracts, or "bleeding chunks" as they're irreversibly known, is that you get one purple passage after another. It's rather like watching a sequence of goal-scoring action replays instead of the whole match.

There's no perspective, no context, and in the case of the Wagner, no dramatic dimension either.

It seems churlish to complain, however, when the extracts are played as superbly as they were by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons.

Many of the favourites were there: the Overture and Bacchanale from Tannhauser, the first and third act preludes from Lohengrin and Siegfried's Rhine Journey and Funeral March from Gotterdammerung. At least this selection, by focusing on just three works, was more homogeneous than it might have been.

In any case, one could but marvel at the calibre and commitment of the Bavarians. The wind principals had the platform manner of concerto soloists, but their playing was of commensurate quality, while the brass was as mellow and velvety as anyone had a right to expect.

The mezzo soloist in the one self-contained work, the Wesendonck Lieder, was Mihoko Fujimura, a distinguished Wagnerian and a singer who invests the text with real significance. Her unappealing tone and unsteady line compromised her account, however, especially when she needed to float notes at the upper end of her range.

Jansons' subtle, elegant phrasing was hardly needed in the Ride of the Valkyries, but it provided an upbeat ending to an exceptionally well executed programme.