I had to keep checking my programme to make sure this was the London Philharmonic Orchestra I was hearing on the Dome stage.

Sure, I have heard this band before, many times. But outside its London home or Glyndebourne, its members seem to be somewhat grudging players, often lacklustre and, as at Eastbourne two years ago, frankly raggedy.

But on Friday evening at the Dome, the LPO seemed to be a different orchestra entirely. Its players looked happier than I had ever seen them, there were even a few smiles as they marched on stage. And after the concert there were wreaths of smiles.

What had happened? Had they brought a secret weapon with them? The sound they were pouring forth was superb, the musicians seemed inspired and almost ecstatic.

It was as though a sergeant major had drilled them. They were sitting bolt upright, at attention almost and certainly on their best behaviour.

But it was no drill sergeant. The secret weapon was Kurt Masur, the LPO's legendary principal conductor. He is a tall man with white hair, a close cut white beard and a pair of eyes like polished steel.

His conducting manner is a little scary because he adopts a marked military manner. His hand movements are small but his whole body becomes the music.

And when he isn't moving, you know his eyes are on every detail of the orchestra and its playing. If I had played a dud note, I would not have wanted to catch his eye for fear of what I might find there.

With only two works on the programme, Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Masur set the Dome alight with sound. He produced music more often heard by Philharmonic Orchestras in New York (where he was boss for ten years), Berlin or Vienna.

This was the LPO as I had longed to hear them, tight, bright, intensely disciplined and thoroughly at home. The playing was inspired and inspiring. At the interval I wanted to rush home, look out the CD and play it again and again.

And it was the same with Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. Somehow Masur and the LPO captured the real Russian sound, playing the main theme with enthusiasm and joy.

This was a five-star, high-octane concert that only superlatives can explain. With Masur on its podium, the LPO can go anywhere.