Bath Symphony Orchestra, The Guildhall, Bath

Mozart's Haffner Symphony is always a tonic. It spins along with all the exuberance of a 20-year-old in a hurry, punctuated by an easy stylish Andante – some fine bassoon playing here – before erupting into the final Presto, brassy and extrovert, taking in a lilting Rondo on the way. It was a big robustly satisfying sound.

Then a real novelty, for violin and double bass, played by Catherine Lord and David Heyes, both perched on a platform and both standing. It was written by Giovanni Bottesini, a 19th century Italian virtusos, who seems to have inherited the mantle of his fellow-countryman, another double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, born about sixty years earlier.

This Grand Duo Concertante is a showpiece designed to illustrate what the instrument can achieve in expert hands: and it is not surprising that Paganini liked what he heard and had it rescored from the original two double basses to violin and double bass, so that he could have fun with it too. And it is fun, full of good tunes, the double bass sounding rather cello-like, mobile and high in the range, wonderfully well played, the dazzling passage-work splendidly executed with cheerful geniality, with the violin making its own distinctive contribution. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it – though when are we likely to hear it again?

The second half brought us a rare outing for Beethoven's Overture The Consecration of the House. This is a relatively late work which builds up from a maestoso introduction to a stirring big-scale fugal finale, with the brass at full bore. It was an interesting example of Beethoven gathering himself for what he was to produce in the remaining five years of his life, most notably the Ninth Symphony and the late quartets. The orchestra gave us a dramatic and rousing performance.

Schumann's Third Symphony is full of joy and sunlight, amid a profusion of melodic ideas. It moves from the big opening, through a succession of dance-like, smaller-scale orchestration, and an impressive display of polyphonic writing to a buoyantly ebullient conclusion. This is to be music to be thoroughly enjoyed, and the orchestra, under David Price's scholarly direction, gave a fine account of it, the dynamics well shaped and the changing moods deftly observed. It ought to be heard more often and next year, the 200th anniversary of Schumann's birth, perhaps his voice will get a more frequent airing.

Peter Lloyd Williams