Simone Lamsma is a phenomenon. She grew rapidly into an international star with a compelling playing style and an enormously varied repertoire. Meanwhile, she always returns to her northern Dutch base: the NNO has been a kind of home base for her since she played her first solo concert there as a teenager. The orchestra is rightly proud of that. This time she also plays Brahms’ widely beloved Violin Concerto.

Johannes Brahms wrote one of four or five violin concertos that simply cannot be ignored, not as a violinist and not as a music lover. It is a quirky blend of powerful melody lines and romantic dreaming, spiced with a pinch of Hungarian folklore.

Also heard is Debussy’s La Mer, one of the absolute highlights of the orchestral repertoire. In it, the sea is set to music so vividly that you wonder how anyone ever got it down on paper. In other words: musical impressionism of the highest order.

The icing on the cake is the suite from the hilarious opera Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès, the English composer who completely abolishes the difference between classical and contemporary.