THE first thing to say about the appearance of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Perth Festival on Saturday is that, in terms of popular appeal, they gave a fantastically successful concert: the big crowd loved them and gave a roaring ovation to American pianist Derek Han for his performance of Saint-Saens's glittering Second Piano Concerto.

That said, I must admit that I was less convinced overall by the quality of the orchestra, having found myself waxing and waning in enthusiasm throughout the evening; I would need to hear them again, with a different conductor, to judge more accurately their stature.

Certainly, Saturday's conductor, Jaap van Zweden, a violinist turned gamekeeper, looked stylish enough. But it was the case - consistently in Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and the Saint-Saens, less so in Brahms's Second Symphony - that the music had a somewhat four-square, chiselled feeling to its momentum. In terms of dynamics and expression, everything seemed rather rigidily constructed, with little sense of organic flow. Additionally, orchestral balance was haphazard, though it's difficult to get it right in this hall - I moved seat for the Brahms to get a different perspective, which revealed a lot of ragged edges in the Second Symphony - barking trumpets, clarinets poking through, a less-polished string section than you might expect, and the whole thing drawing on a limited range of dynamics.

Despite the storming acclaim for Derek Han, it was a rather splashy performance of Saint-Saens, with Han not always in control of the speed, though the tempo of the wonderful, galumphing theme in the Scherzo was absolutely right.