The ghost of Leonard Bernstein was in evidence throughout Saturday night's concert at the Dome, but it served only to inspire and energise, never to intimidate.

Both halves began with pieces by the composer of West Side Story; and the rest of the programme, all of which was conducted with Bernstein-like verve, charisma and technical exactitude by the exuberant John Wilson, was also closely associated with him.

One of Bernstein's earliest recordings featured him as both soloist and conductor, with Saturday's orchestra playing Ravel's G Major piano concerto.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is very much one of the pianists of the moment and he left us in no doubt why. The combination of effortless and technique and sheer joy that he communicated would be hard to beat. In both that piece and the concert piece drawn by Leonard Bernstein from his Oscar-nominated score for On the Waterfront, the Philharmonia, so well used to the notoriously dry acoustic of London's Royal Festival Hall, evidently relished the warmer climes of the Dome Concert Hall.

The concert opened and closed with psalm settings. In Bernstein's shamelessly catchy Chichester Psalms, young Leo Blair was a commendably self-assured and strikingly musical treble soloist.

The evening's programme drew to a close with the intense neo-classicism of Stravinsky's short but intense Symphony Of Psalms. In both sets of psalms, we were treated to the full glory of the Brighton Festival Chorus, swinging and even barking as required in the Bernstein; and bringing hushed dignity and poise to the Stravinsky.

How appropriate that in this, the closing large-scale concert of this year's Brighton Festival, the laurels should belong to this excellent ensemble, whose reputation and renown, deservedly, continue to bring pride to the city.