The Oxford Philomusica's concert at the Sheldonian last weekend demanded great physical and emotional energy from the performers, in a programme dominated by Tchaikovsky but, curiously, with a world premiere slipped in at the beginning.

Deborah Pritchard's Seven Pieces for Orchestra was inspired by Marc Chagall's stained-glass windows at Tudely Church in Kent. The windows were commissioned by the d'Avigdor-Goldsmid family in memory of their daughter, Sarah, who drowned off the Sussex coast at the age of 21. The palindromic structure of the piece allowed the composer to keep her ideas tightly focused, as she attempted to capture Chagall's colours and brushstrokes with swirling textures and dotted rhythms. Marios Papadopoulos, conducting, ensured a suitably sensitive response to the composer's demands, to produce a vivid sound infused with vigour and a fine sense of drama.

That sense of drama spilled over into Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, with soloist Stephen Hough (pictured) establishing a solid rapport with the orchestra from the famous, magnificent opening through to the equally magnificent finale. In between, soloist and orchestra carried the audience on a thrilling, high-octane ride that bristled with energy and purpose. Hough's hands were a blur as he thumped out the solo cadenzas, but those same hands were capable of drawing out passages of great warmth and serenity.

After the interval, the orchestra was once again in full throttle for an equally thrilling and stirring performance of Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony. Strangely, the 19th-century critic Hanslick described the second, waltz-like movement as "loathsome . . . a disagreeable rhythm", owing to the composer's unusual setting of five beats to a bar. But this movement, so reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's ballet music - The Sleeping Beauty sprang to mind as I was listening - is surely one of the highlights of this glorious symphony. Elsewhere, the orchestra captured the contrasting moods and emotions to perfection, before bringing the piece to that faltering ending that fades into silence. An immaculate performance.