THAT old ill-wind blew strong on Saturday night for the RSNO.

Scheduled soloist in an all-Beethoven concert, Rudolf Buchbinder, due to play the Third Piano Concerto, fell prey to a virus, so who did we get as last-minute replacement? None other than Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Artist of the Year at last year's International Classical Awards, an acclaimed top-drawer pianist and recording artist, and a musician with a very distinctive performing personality. On top of that we had a conductor totally new to the RSNO and a completely unknown quantity: Russian-born and Helsinki-based Dima Slobodeniouk.

And the outcome? A dynamite performance of the Third Piano Concerto, characterised by Bavouzet's spectacularly dry, ultra-articulate playing, which takes chances, hits a few bum notes en route, but cuts right to the heart and spirit of the music. And my first impression of Slobodeniouk, through the Leonora No 3 Overture and his accompanying of the concerto, is of an economic and resourceful conductor who knows his onions, realises that the music, and not he, is the essential focus of the night, doesn't impede the band – which played mightily – and is confident in shaping and moulding the music the way he wants it.

Bavouzet, after his stunning concerto performance, responded to audience demand by delivering an absolutely sensational and witty performance of a movement from Beethoven's opus 31 No 3 Piano Sonata. And while Slobodeniouk's admirable Eroica Symphony was not exactly to my taste (I prefer more breadth, beef, bite and weight) it was brilliantly played by the RSNO.

I will not be surprised if Mr Slobodeniouk receives an invitation to return to Scotland.

HHHHH