It may have been an unlucky day on the calendar but we, at this concert, were the luckiest people in Manchester to see and hear this magnificent orchestra all the way from Milan. And a huge orchestra it was, especially for the last piece on the programme - Respighi's Pines of Rome.

Riccardo Chailly conducted his musicians with a joyous flair that the audience quickly warmed to. He conducted with every fibre of his being, hands, arms, body and face. What music he gave us, from Stravinsky, Puccini, Rossini, Grieg and the out of this world Respighi. It was a box of delights that did not cloy the palate.

The overture to the Thieving Magpie was given depth by the large ensemble and Chailly adroitly contained the passages that can run away with you. He managed to convey the hint of menace beneath its tripping rhythms

Next on offer was Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor. Freddy Kempt, a young pianist with an impressive CV, played this. He had strength but with a lightness of touch that gave light and shade to the piece. He and the conductor were like a couple of lovebirds so closely did they work together. Perfectly in tune with each other's needs. The second movement was like listening to mountains streams rippling and coruscating in the silence, twinkling in the cool sunlight. Kempft brought out the lyrical yet passionate moods, contrasting and intertwining them with style.

Buzzy bees next assailed us in Stavinsky's Scherzo Fantastique. This was music for a ballet about bees and it was as if the hall were like a beehive with sound insinuating every nook and cranny.

Puccini's Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) brought us back from the interval. This beautiful music was full of repressed passion and the feelings of emotions held in check. Becoming mournful yet composed, this beautifully sustained music was filled with emotional swells and depths. I loved it.

Then came Respighi's Pines of Rome. This marvellously painturesque music is a set of 4 scenes that run into each other. The first is the Pines of the Villa Borgese. Here children play beneath trees filled with wind and turbulence. Then we go to the Pines near a catacomb, where the music become eerie and spooky with the prayers of the dead being evoked. The third scene includes an actual recording of a nightingale singing in the Pines of the Janiculum, as evening comes, the languorous song fills the night with beautiful sounds. This gradually fades into the Pines of the Appian Way, the straight road that brought all parts of the Roman Empire back to Rome. In the distance we hear the sound of marching feet. It is the legions returning in triumph. Gradually they get nearer and you hear the trumpets and war horns gongs and thousands of marching feet, clashing metal, horses and chariots. It builds to a wall of glorious sound as they approach the Capitoline Hill. Then as they reach it the music abruptly stops and you are left exhausted by their coming.