The President Young Performer's Concerts may lack somewhat the fillip and attraction of the big-name Gala Concerts, being more a showcase for emerging young local talents than anything else. In this instance, Grace Lee on violin and Lim Yan on piano were both winners of their respective categories in last year's National Piano and Violin Competition. Both their featured works were, length-wise, shorter than average, but abundantly sufficient to offer insights into their musical prowess and for them to acquit themselves with glory.

But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. Associate Conductor Lim Yau opened the evening with a sonorous Overture to La Forza del Destino in an dry acoustic which seemed to have only two settings, loud and louder; a quality which, of course, suited the exuberant brass and percussion just fine. The clarinet cantilena in the middle portion was also most winsome. La Forza, for the interested, contains some of the most underrated tunes in the repertoire: try "La Vergine degli angeli" from the end of Act II or "Pace, pace, mio Dio!" at the start of Act IV Scene 2.

Glazunov's A minor Violin Concerto is actually quite Beethovenian in its musical framework: lots of lyricism in the first movement, followed by exploding fireworks in the last, which was exactly Grace Lee's approach. What was immediately striking from the opening bars, however, was the volume of the soloist, and this was a problem which persisted throughout the work: the violin's timbre (not exactly a Guarnerius filius Andrea) was continually under threat of being drowned out by the tutti orchestra.

Still, what did get through was a compelling account in which Ms Lee shaded Glazunov in emotions than sheer bravura. Intelligent phrasing and voluptuous lyricism from Ms Lee made for very satisfying first and second movements. If not for the sometimes overwhelming volume, Lim Yau and the Symphony provided sympathetic accompaniment. In the cadenza bridging into final movement, we were also treated to glimpses of the raging virtuoso - even if occasionally it still sounded more well-rehearsed than an occasion of white-hot spontaniety. The finale itself produced thrilling passagework from the soloist, with Ms Lee propelling the music forward at speed. If the orchestra had to be faulted, it would have been Lim Yau allowing the orchestra's growing exuberance sometimes to overshadow the soloist.

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra continues its seasonal fetish with the orchestral-piano works of Rachmaninov with the inclusion of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini here right at the opening of the new season. (Never mind that less than 12 months ago it just received an audition, in this hall, by the SSCL-presented Asian Youth Orchestra with Cecile Licad.) This time round, the solo pianist's part went to the Manchester-trained Lim Yan. With a brisk tempo starting right off the blocks, one was instantly struck by the electricity and confidence of the young pianist.

Racing through the first six variations like a bat out of hell (not unsimilar to, say, Jean-Yves Thibaudet's fiery account with the Cleveland Orchestra/Ashkenazy Decca 440653-2), there was very little give or take on the part of Lim the soloist, with Lim the conductor at some points struggling to keep up with his young compatriot. Nonetheless, by Variation 10, the orchestra had regained its footing and was matching the piano swagger for swagger.

Lim Yan went on to display more amazing high-wire roulades in the 11th Variation and onwards, sauntering easily through Rachmaninov's pianistic obstacle course and building a comforable arc leading up to the big 18th Variation. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), Lim Yan took this section with considerable ferocity and minimal rubato, a sentiment reciprocated by the orchestra - the strings were sawing away as if their lives depended on it, and then some. Perhaps a stronger contrast in the crescendo leading up to the big climax would have shaped the music better, but even with relatively flat (albeit loud) dynamics, it was clear that Lim Yan favoured less poetry and more voltage.

More of the same followed in the last five Variations, with pianist and orchestra indulging themselves, right up to the finale with a murderously surging Dies Irae: it has been said that one can kill Rachmaninov with too much kindness; well, here they were practically channeling Jack the Ripper en masse. An extraordinarily surefooted account by the soloist, throwing out pianistic coups de théâtre with relish and practically calling lightning from the sky, only perhaps lacking in the breadth of emotional shading.

It is not often we find spoken performances of Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (not in these here parts, anyway). This evening, however, this role was taken by John Cunningham, placed commandingly at the back of the orchestra at the organ console, dressed in an all-black, fashionably open-collared shirt. His exuberant delivery of an otherwise banal script - every other instrumental timbre seemed to be described as some sort of "special sound" - struck a wonderful rapport with the audience and injected much energy into the performance. If nothing else, narration did make the time go faster.

Not that there was nothing to enjoy; quite the opposite. After the grand orchestral opening that rotundly swaggered with circumstance, the orchestra went on to acquit itself with splendid individual sectional performances all round. Languid oboes, dextrous clarinets, spirited violins (perhaps with some mojo left over from the Rachmaninov) and a chromatically arpeggiated harp to kill for. The trombone fanfare was a bit of a letdown, but the well-drilled percussion group that followerd delivered a taut rendition of Britten's variation.

The tremendous Fugue, when it finally arrived, demonstrated the orchestra playing with a rare and exhilarating intensity, and Lim Yau squeezing every last drop of juice out of every last note. Instrumental details were pinpoint where they weren't smothered by the acoustics of the hall, and I daresay it quite blew the audience away. A triumphant beginning to the season.

William Beh reckons that the Love Theme from Flashdance is an inverted transformation of the Dies Irae.

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