Cleveland Orchestra/Von Dohnanyi, Barbican Hall, London

Dispassionate tour falls short of the full story

"Play it as it is" could happily serve as Christoph von Dohnanyi's professional motto. Rarely one to meddle or fuss, Von Dohnanyi will leave his post as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra much as the orchestra found him some 18 years ago, as a resourceful, clear-thinking musician with integrity to spare and a sincere sense of musical mission.

Von Dohnanyi's swan-song European tour confirms the impressive sum of his Cleveland achievement, namely a superb instrument trained to listen, and a community of musicians trained to think. Friday's Bartok Second Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham showed the musical machinery in full working order, with tight ensemble, quick-fire responses to solo passages, and a big, gleaming sound at full throttle. Shaham was on fabulous form, scrubbing at passage-work like a demon possessed, or narrowing his fulsome tone to a delicate thread. His record with Boulez was quite outclassed. By now, the concerto's shape and complexion have become part of him, whether in the Variations' fragile traceries or the meaningful way in which the last movement revisits key themes from the first. Few violinists on the current circuit play it more perceptively.

Cleveland's strings had opened with Lutoslawski's Musique funèbre to the memory of Bartok, a tonal 12-tone essay, grim but gripping and performed at maximum heat. Brahms Second Symphony was another matter, handsome, full-bodied and immensely solid it's true, and with a thrilling peroration, but time and again Von Dohnanyi's approach seemed short on love. Brahms's rich foliage was viewed too much from afar and I longed for a closer, more affectionate encounter. Best was a warmly judged lead-back to the first movement's epic exposition: Von Dohnanyi cued the long repeat, though by the time the symphony was over, I half-wished he hadn't. Maybe the rigours of touring were taking their toll. Paradoxically, it was the encore, Mozart's Figaro Overture, that delivered in a few minutes all the freshness and subtlety the Brahms lacked.

Thursday's Bruckner Eight was another curate's egg. Tempo relations, dynamic emphases, even orchestral layout (basses on the left, divided fiddles) were similar to the Decca CD that Von Dohnanyi made with the orchestra eight years ago. The principal shifts in focus related to pace and tension, due maybe to the ruthless Barbican acoustic or the adrenaline boost born of live performance.

The first movement took time to settle but once into its stride built well, with shimmering tremolandos and ironclad climaxes. Von Dohnanyi's Bruckner is fiercer than some, pre-modernist almost in its boldness, with every ear-bending modulation laid bare. But although there were moments of repose, Von Dohnanyi's viewpoint fell short of the full story.