Thrilling interpretations of Richard Strauss's work have, from the outset, been a major feature of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's relationship with their music director, Andris Nelsons. Even so, the unequivocal success of this concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier will surely stand out as the climax of their work of the past few years.

While Glyndebourne's current theatrical staging has been a preoccupation this last week, the focus here – a silver rose the only prop – was firmly on the music: its immediacy, its wit and wisdom, its sensuality. With Soile Isokoski as the Marschallin, Alice Coote as Octavian and Franz Hawlata as Baron Ochs, this was singing of the highest calibre from artists in their signature roles. The golden voice of Sophie Bevan, born to sing young Sophie von Faninal, confirmed the stellar nature of an evening that brought both laughter and misty eyes – an acid test for this opera.

The transcendent beauty of the final scenes of acts one and three were most affecting, with Isokoski's elegance of line controlling both the Marschallin's emotions and her heightened awareness of the inevitability of losing her lover to a younger woman. Coote's ebullience and acute sensitivity was crucial to balancing comedy and sadness, and Hawlata as an oafish Ochs gave a vocal tour de force. Milking every possible opportunity, he used both conductor and podium as pivotal points in the stage business.

The trappings of a full-scale production were hardly missed. Mark Stone's Faninal was highly impressive, Ji-Min Park shone as the Italian tenor and the CBSO gave even moments of operatic mayhem real clarity. Nelsons, meanwhile, drew luscious textures and transparent detail throughout, his immaculate handling of the sheer bliss of Strauss's ending eclipsing all else.