The San Francisco Symphony - for some reason, it eschews the word orchestra - is huge and thus gives out a huge sound.

Even when tuning up, it sounded as though it was in full playing mode so you might imagine the sound it made when playing Tchaikovsky.

It had bags of attack, a lot of verve and enough energy to light up a small city.

But, for the Tchaikovsky at least, it gave nowhere as much heart as you would have expected and as any Russian orchestra would have given on a bad day.

What did move me was the extraordinary beauty of violin virtuoso Hilary Hahn.

She gave an immaculate reading of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, full of poise, wit and grace. Here, the orchestra were in their element, adding heart to one of the great works of the 20th Century.