Christian Zacharias is now deep into his seven-concert cycle of the Mozart piano concertos. Abandoning chronology, he has designed each programme to present three concertos composed at different stages of Mozart's life.

Zacharias turned the relatively unfamiliar and early C major concerto K 246 into a small-scale drama, moving from the opening allegro's ebullient hunting horns to the courtly minuet of the last movement. His approach to the orchestra is an efficient compromise between period-band affectation and the weight of modern instruments. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra obviously relish their special relationship with Zacharias, and are not afraid to follow the lead of his sometimes idiosyncratic phrasing as he directs from the piano.

The thematic fecundity of the E flat major concerto K 449 was richly satisfying. But Zacharias's performance of the great A major concerto was the most fascinating of the concert. His first movement was unusually brisk and forceful, a long way from the veiled eroticism this piece conventionally possesses. Sometimes Zacharias's articulation can be fussy. But in the slow movement and the final Allegro, he found a totally idiomatic spontaneity, matching Mozart's invention with his own creative inspiration.