Philharmonia Orchestra, Dome Concert Hall, Brighton, May 25
5:09pm Monday 26th May 2008
As a festival finale you won't get much better than Mahler's Second Symphony, the Resurrection.
This is the complete work of art, the music not conjuring mere pictures in your head but an epic movie.
All human life - and death - is here, and to chart it is a vast orchestra, choir, solo singers, organ and even an off-stage brass ensemble.
Sir Andrew Davis and the Philharmonia gave a precision account of this heady brew of kitsch and profound that is one of the great spectacles of the concert stage.
The Brighton Festival Chorus brought the evening to a thrilling conclusion that brought the house down.
Jonathan Harvey's seraphic Tranquil Abiding was received equally well, the composer there to witness it.
It was gentle, meditative and like the best walk in the woods of your life.