VIOLINIST Julian Rachlin’s visits to Sage Gateshead are always guaranteed a sellout and there were only handful of seats to spare when he returned for a programme that lived up to its title.

Rachlin took possession of two core works of Beethoven, placing his unique stamp on them. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto started with a pulse gently tapped out by timpanist Marney O' Sullivan, as Rachlin moulded a wonderful opening, before his violin rose serenely from the orchestral textures.

The narrative flowed in a seamless dialogue between soloist and orchestra. The cadenza, written by Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler, featured the finest filigree and thrilling embellishments. In the slow movement Rachlin's 1704 Stradivarius sang with supreme tenderness, with sensitive backing from the strings under the leadership of Kyra Humphreys. Rachlin delighted in the twists and turns of the Rondo, with some catchy exchanges between him and bassoonist Stephen Rheay.

Rachlin then wielded the baton for Beethoven’s Symphony No 3 Eroica, injecting the old warhorse of the repertoire with youthful vigour. The orchestra burst from the starting line in what was a muscular account.

The second movement, in contrast to the exultation of the first, oozed misery. One of most haunting passages of music was conveyed with an aching beauty by oboist Steven Hudson, as the tread of the funeral march led inexorably to a sprightly Scherzo. In the Finale Rachlin gave the orchestra full rein in a pulsating gallop to the climax.

At it's premier in 1805, a man in the gallery was heard shouting: "I’ll give another Kreutzer if the thing will only stop". The audience would have have paid more than a Kreutzer to hear it again.

The post-concert Spotlight fell on a quartet led by violinist Sophie Appleton, playing the second of the Beethoven's Razumovsky quartets. It featured an exquisite slow movement and fiendish finale which was dispatched with aplomb.

Gavin Engelbrecht