'When a new piece is well thought out, well scored and has something to say, musicians should grab it with both hands.

Andrew Evans's Journey to a Dark Place added richness to Saturday night's concert. What sparked off the piece was the illness of a son, now happily recovered. Classically built, it reflected dark emotions in its rhythms and harmony. But there was real beauty and no self-pity.

This was also the first time Derek Williams has conducted the NSO in Smetana's overture to The Bartered Bride. Exposed fugal writing found the string players equal to the task, with no holding back when the winds were caught up in the dance.

Katherine Jenkinson figured in Schumann's Cello Concerto. It is rhapsodic, inward looking and often laid out like chamber music, qualities to which the young cellist was fully suited. The central song without words was a highlight.

In Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 Derek Williams made each bar part of a greater and stirring whole. The orchestra were more than able collaborators, the plangent oboe standing out in the creepy slow movement.