The inauguration of a mighty new organ in one of Brighton’s most beautiful and historic churches before a distinguished audience is a celebration in itself even without a single note played.

But when David Flood, organist and master of the choristers at Canterbury Cathedral, arrived to perform on the instrument, St Nicholas Church came alive with sound and glory.

Dr Flood’s programme, skilfully chosen to demonstrate the range of effects possible on a modern three-manual organ, combined baroque masterpieces with the French thunderings of Mulet and Franck, the English dignity of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, and the charming set of Norwegian folk tunes for which the organ magically became an entire orchestra.

David Flood’s dazzling technique never obscured an intense musicality and depth of feeling: he made playing four lines of music and hand stretches across the manuals look easy.

Organ virtuosi have an almost limitless variation of registration and voicing to play with on the new instrument, something St Nicholas’s congregation already knows. Their own Dominic Desouza-Campbell knits as a good a Bach polyphony as even a great Cathedral organist.