English music of the 20th Century opened this year's classical musical element of the Brighton Festival.

The concert opened with a beautiful interpretation of a Gerald Finzi piece called Lo, The Full And Final Sacrifice which gave an opportunity for the Brighton Festival chorus to give a rare appearance in its home town.

Soloist Mark Padmore, replacing the indisposed tenor John Mark Ainsley, was an unexpected bonus in Benjamin Britten's Serenade For Tenor, Horn And String Orchestra.

Padmore, an Evangelist singer of excellence, was in superb form, adding wonderful colour to his crystal clear diction.

Solo horn player Stephen Sterling used the excellent accoustics of All Saints to marvellous effect, not least in the last, fading moments of the piece, played offstage.

The Brighton Festival chorus were in fine form in their second piece, Britten's Rejoice In The Lamb, an idiosyncratic work, along with Brighton College student Robert Miles who performed his treble solo with brilliance.

The major work of the evening was Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, a real crowd pleaser given an exciting account by the orchestra.

Hickox is a remarkably vigorous conductor and gets a huge sound from his players.

My favourite variation - and many others, I'm sure - is Nimrod and Hickox pulled out all the stops to leave his thunderous ending embedded in the memory.

Mike Howard features@argus-btn.co.uk
All Saints Church, The Drive, Hove, Saturday