THE BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier, brought a programme of music packed with drama to Sage Gateshead.

Tortelier set out his stall with a solid performance of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, charting the rise and fall of a prince who is ultimately led to the scaffold.

Pianist Steven Osborne gave a sparkling rendition of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. Spurred on by a whip crack, he set off at a brisk pace, with jazzy syncopations fizzing with energy.

In contrast, the slow movement had an ineffable grace and flowing purity, with its meditative melody taken up seamlessly by the cor anglais and flute. It faded away with a lightest of trills, before the explosive entry of the Presto, driven furiously to an effervescent climax.

An enraptured audience would not let Osborne go and he obliged with a delightful encore in the shape of his own take on Oscar Peterson’s Things Ain't What They Used To Be.

Berlioz’a spectacular Symphony Fantastique, rarely played given the enormous orchestral forces required, enjoyed its first outing at the Sage.

It is an opium-induced phantasmagoria in which the hero imagines the progress of a love affair, ending in his execution for the murder of his sweetheart. It was depicted in bold colours.

The first movement oozed passion, while the ball scene was charged with an erotic intensity. The glorious bucolic theme, reminiscent of Beethoven ‘s Pastoral Symphony, bloomed expansively. 
The tension of the march to the scaffold was ratcheted up to a chilling fatal blow, while in the last movement, with ominous tolling bells, the orchestra drove the vivid nightmare to a soaring climax.