Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

Kaleidoscopic lights swirled over the grey street; a circus artist in fishnet stockings played with fire on the pavement; and a man on stilts teetered above the crowd making for Philharmonic Hall. Puzzled concertgoers checked their diaries anxiously. Was this really the opening concert in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's new season, the first under its new American musical director, Gerard Schwarz? To the accompaniment of brass fanfares, fluttering banners proclaimed the Philharmonic's new identity, which was also evident inside from the uniformed stewards looking, in their grey tunics, curiously like members of the People's Republic of China. So much for the make-over, what about the music-making?

In stark contrast to the razzmatazz, the serendipitous programming of Mahler's "Rückert Lieder" and his second, Resurrection Symphony was completely appropriate to the mood of last Wednesday. The pause Mahler requested at the end of the first movement of the symphony was marked with a minute's silence, with a packed audience and orchestra standing to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks on America. In the sombre circumstances, Schwarz could be said to have had either a headstart or a handicap in beginning his tenure at this difficult time. In the event, he thankfully allowed the music to speak for itself, more eloquently than any words.

Never forcing the music or the musicians beyond their limits, he kept both the detail and the overview of the music in balance. Many shades of colour were evocatively captured in a dramatically cogent performance. Any uncertainties of pitch that had affected Jane Irwin's reading of the "Rückert Lieder" were forgotten in her glowing and beautifully controlled "Urlicht" and in the massive finale, presented here on a grand yet not overblown manner. The RLPO Choir conveyed the music's sweeping spiritual uplift with an integrated, thrilling conviction.

In his second concert, Schwarz avoided standard Sunday matinée fare and was rewarded with a remarkably good turnout. After the honeyed tones of Stravinsky's buzzing Scherzo fantastique, Panufnik's Third Symphony, Sinfonia Sacra seemed to take up the "Last Trump" theme of the "Resurrection" Symphony. In his very direct reading of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Schwarz focused on its vigour and personality, avoiding fast tempos, heightening the savage effect of the violent orchestral eruptions.

On the evidence of his first concerts with the orchestra, Schwarz achieves much while appearing to do little, in stark contrast to his immediate predecessor at the RLPO, Petr Altrichter. Under Schwarz's influence, and with the securing of the Orchestra's immediate future with Arts Council stabilisation funding of nearly £5m, music on Merseyside is already sounding and looking distinctly upbeat.

The Mahler concert is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 tomorrow, 7.30pm