John Tavener Concert, Dome Concert Hall, Brighton, May 20

1:24pm Wednesday 21st May 2008

Unusually for a classical event, the seats had been removed from the front of the Dome stalls for the City of London Sinfonia's all-Tavener programme. And in the first half, a girl of around ten leaned on the edge of the stage looking up with rapt attention at Steven Isserlis, the soloist in The Protecting Veil.

Here we had Tavener's most popular piece, an ecstatic concerto for cello and string orchestra, played with a sublime joy that brought the house down.

But it was the second half that was the big deal here: the UK premiere of a 100-minute mass setting, Sollemnitas in Conceptione Immaculate Beatae Maria Virginis.

There were plenty of theatrical devices - amplified voices and various performers in different parts of the hall. The Brighton Festival Chorus sung magnificently, as did the Brighton Youth Choir.

For Tavener, obviously, these religious texts are celebrations of worship. For me, they are nasty bricks in the wall of a mental prison of medieval unpleasantness. Since this nastiness was particularly oppressive to women, it was good to see the girl at the front had escaped its gut-wrenching tedium by falling fast asleep. So wise already.

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