It was with some difficulty that I dragged myself away from Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing — indeed, Ann Widdecombe’s hilarious Charleston nearly made me late — but I’m glad I made the effort, because the OSO’s Russian-flavoured evening was, in its own way, just as riveting.

It may not have had the visual pizzazz of the ballroom, but it had its own opulence, conjuring up the richly melodic and expressive music of a trio of Russian composers.

The first piece, Liadov’s Baba Yaga, was a delightful miniature, telling the tale of a wild old woman who travels in a magical mortar with a pestle and broom, and brings an enchanted forest to life. The OSO’s vibrant performance, under the energetic guidance of conductor Robert Max, set the benchmark for the rest of the evening, and anticipation was noticeably mounting as piano soloist Danny Driver made his entrance for Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto. There was a feeling that this was the piece that most of the audience had come to hear.

And they weren’t disappointed for a moment. Apparently, Rachmaninov wrote this concerto so that he could afford to buy himself the must-have luxury of the day — a motor car — which might explain the seemingly relentless sense of purpose that drives the piece forward, catching up listeners in its path and sweeping them along with it. The OSO responded with vigour and enthusiasm, relishing the variety of moods, from the wistful and contemplative, to the searingly emotional. Driver’s fingers danced their way through the dramatic virtuoso passages, alchemising every note into a drop of pure gold.

After this, anything that followed might have seemed an anti-climax, but no; Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was positively ferocious, moving on from that haunting opening to a something powerful, insistent and unremitting, interwoven with moments of hushed mysteriousness before building, inexorably, to its tragic conclusion. Verdict: strictly magnificent.