It all began with a German cosmopolitan who fled Paris in 1848 and settled in north-west England. Charles Hallé’s “Gentlemen’s Concerts” in Manchester flourished; by 1858, he felt confident enough to maintain his orchestra (and establish a choir) as a private venture. And so the Hallé was born. Now the oldest professional symphony orchestra in the UK, it is an emblem of Manchester’s cultural heritage, and a vital expression of the pride of Mancunians and other northerners. That pride was generously conveyed throughout this 150th anniversary concert.

The programme devised by Mark Elder, the Hallé’s music director, was a fond backward glance rather than a proper celebration of the present. The orchestra’s early association with Berlioz was recalled in his overture Le Corsaire. Some of the orchestra’s most notable world premieres came back to life – Constant Lambert’s The Rio Grande, Elgar’s In the South and Thomas Adès’s These Premises Are Alarmed, this last a four-minute wonder that packs in more music per second than any comparable piece I know.