Mozart has more than 600 works to his credit including 41 symphonies, 22 operas, 27 piano concertos and countless sonatas, serenades, divertimenti and choral works as well as concertos for almost every instrument in the orchestra.

It is a difficult task to choose what to play on the anniversary of the composer's birth, on January 27, 1756.

In his brief 35-year life Mozart virtually emerged from the womb writing brilliant and original music.

He began composing at the age of five, wrote his first symphony at eight and his first opera at 11.

The Hanover Band chose to concentrate on works written in his final year, 1791. Under its conductor Paul Brough it opened with the overture to his penultimate opera La Clemenza di Tito and his last piano concerto, No 27.

Unfortunately, the vastness of St Bartholomew's defeated both these works - the Hanover Band being a chamber orchestra performing on period instruments, with pianist Nikolai Demidenko seated at audience level below the stage.

The Band fared better with its performance of Mozart's last work, his Requiem, left unfinished at his death and completed by a pupil.

Bringing on a 17-strong chorus and four fine soloists they gave a heart-warming account of this marvellous piece on what must have been the coldest evening Brighton has seen in years.

The Sussex Chorus had a much more vibrant programme on the Saturday evening and with its 100-plus singers, another four fine soloists and the Musicians of All Saints under the baton of Chorus director Neil Jenkins they could not fail to be heard clearly.

This was what St Bartholomew's was designed for - excellent, full-throated choral music and a packed audience was not disappointed.

The main work was the C Minor Mass written for Salzburg on his marriage to Constanze, in which she sang the major soprano role.

Here it was sung by Rebecca Bottone, daughter of international singer Bonaventura Bottone.

She has a ringing, bell-like tone and here she proved that she is a rising star in both the operatic and oratorical repertoire. Her reading of the Credo was enough to melt the heart.

With other choral music, including the Ave Verum Corpus and Laudate Dominium, and a rather sweet and rare Schubertian-type song by Mozart's son Franz Xavier Sussex Chorus proved once again that it is indeed a master of choral music in the local area.