Magnus Lindberg's Related Rocks gives its name to the South Bank's festival of his music. Set to new choreography by Akram Khan (also reviewed today) the piece opened the London Sinfonietta's concert. Lindberg's piece, scored for two pianists, percussionists, and electronics, was an energetic exploration of textural and structural contrasts. Khan's choreography, for five dancers, mirrored the volatility of the music. Dancers emerged from the group in solos and duos, only to be sucked back in by the music's sweeping momentum.

But this was only the first of the programme's investigations of multimedia. Bill Viola's film for Edgard Varèse's Déserts provided a compelling visual counterpoint to this starkly beautiful music, played live by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Sinfonietta. The film does not interpret the music as a conventional narrative, but instead creates its own abstract logic through images of depopulated landscapes. But there were telling moments of synchronicity: a sequence of loud attacks was precisely matched by a series of lightning strikes on the film, revealing Salonen's brilliant co-ordination of the musicians. The three electronic interludes in Déserts were the only sections in which the film featured a human presence. In ultra-slow motion, a man sat at a table, ate soup, drank water and smashed a glass. But the effect was even more dehumanising than the images of deserts. The slowness of the film turned his body into an unfamiliar landscape and his everyday actions into mysterious rituals.

Stravinsky's Les Noces was the last ballet he wrote for Diaghilev, but the Sinfonietta performed the piece here without any dancing or visuals. However, with the work's four soloists, male and female chorus, and the dramatic hammering of four pianos and percussion, this was as richly theatrical as any of the other collaborations on the programme. Salonen inspired the players and singers in an astonishing, vibrant performance.