A thrilling performance of Rachmaninov’s second Piano Concerto by Oxford’s brilliant young star Tom Poster (right) was the high spot of the City of Oxford Orchestra’s St Valentine’s Day concert. A packed Sheldonian Theatre was treated to a stirring, romance-drenched account of a work which could hardly have been more suited to the occasion.

This was the third time over the past six or seven years that Tom has performed the challenging piece with the COO. This time, with the orchestra on superb form under their conductor Levon Parikian, he showed a special understanding of its subtleties. While the lush romantic themes were delivered with the appropriate stately control, the young player was also able to reveal the joyful side to a work that was completed as Rachmaninov successfully fought off a depression that had earlier blighted his creative life – a work that showed he was not, as Stravinsky disobligingly alleged, “six foot two of Russian gloom”.

Salute to Love was the title given to this well-planned concert, borrowing from Edward Elgar’s lovely work for strings, Salut d’Amour Op.12, which played in exemplary style at the midway point.

The evening might just as appropriately, have been called ‘From Russia With Love’, since, besides the Rachmaninov, we were also treated to Glinka’s hugely popular overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, which provided an exuberant start to proceedings, and Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture: Romeo and Juliet.

As Parikian pointed out, neither this last nor Bizet’s Carmen – featured in excerpts from his Suites Nos 1 and 2 – provided the best example of where true love can lead. But at any rate we could appreciate the passion that preceded the calamity in both cases.