When, in 1973, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under their founding director Neville Marriner began to venture away from an exclusively Baroque repertoire, one of their early records of modern music included the Symphony No. 1 (“Classical”) by Sergei Prokofiev.

It was an obvious choice. Written over the period 1916-17, this symphony was a deliberate (and very successful) attempt by the young Russian to adopt a strict classical structure in the manner of Haydn, and to scale back the aggressive thrust of his other early music. The orchestral forces are not vast, and the bright, clean textures aptly suit a polished chamber orchestra like the ASMF.

Marriner stayed with the ensemble for decades (even though he also branched out as a “full orchestra” conductor), and died at 92 in 2016. The new Music Director is the American violinist Joshua Bell, an internationally acclaimed and perennially boyish soloist (he is, in fact, 55). It is highly satisfying that the Academy’s early hit, the “Classical” Symphony, has been revived for this touring program. It opened the concert, followed by two masterpieces of Felix Mendelssohn, both in the key of E Minor: his Violin Concerto, and Symphony No. 3, “The...