Music: Glagolitic Mass

Leos Janacek may have been born half-way through the 19th Century but his best music was written in a feverish burst of creativity in the 20th Century, not long before his death in 1928.

In this period he wrote Sinfonietta, his last four operas, his Diary Of One Who Disappeared, two string quartets and the Glagolitic Mass.

All are among the most exciting, impressive and accessible pieces of music from the past 100 years. They have drama, emotional lyricism, eccentric orchestrations and rhythmic bite.

Janacek was born in 1854, the fifth of nine children, into a poor teacher's family in northern Moravia. He was educated at Brno where he spent most of his life.

It was the National Theatre in Brno which premiered his great operas which are the mainstay of his reputation.

His works are seen very much as part of the fight against the domination of his country by Germany. The founding of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 was the spur to his last burst of creativity.

The Glagolitic Mass was written in a month in 1926 and is a masterpiece of the genre. Filled with brassy fanfares and rhythmic energies, there are also quiet moments of rapt contemplation.

It is said to have been inspired while walking in the woods near Ludhacovice where he met Kamila, a married woman with whom he fell unrequitedly in love.

He wrote: "I felt a great cathedral grow out of the vast expanse of the woods, a flock of sheep were ringing their bells; I hear angels, an archpriest and a choir."

The Glagolitic Mass is written in Old Church Slavonic and can be seen as a hymn of praise to the greatness of the Czech nation and to Slavic culture. He also imagined the piece as a wedding mass for himself and Kamila.

This is the opening concert of the Brighton Festival and is dedicated to the memory of Ronald Bates, who founded it, and to Sir Ian Hunter, the Festival's first Artistic Director.

The Mass also celebrates the 150th anniversary of Janacek's birth and has been reworked by Paul Wingfield.

The programme also includes a specially-commissioned brass fanfare by James Morgan and Juliette Pochin, the directors of Brighton Festival Chorus and Brighton Festival Youth Choir, plus the world premiere of British composer Piers Hellawell's Concertante for trumpet and trombone, featuring Swedish soloists Jonas Bylund and Haken Hardenberger.

Sir Michael Tippett's Fantasia Concerto on the Theme of Corelli will end the concert's first half.

Sponsored by Real Return Holdings Company Limited, Veritas Asset Management (UK) Ltd, The Arts Trust of Brighton and Hove
Sunday May 2, 8pm, tickets £10 to £28.50.