The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra's (BPO) 80th anniversary concert got off to a rousing start with a full on reading of Shostakovich's Festival Overture.

From the opening brass fanfare to the end clash of symbols, this is a piece so energetic and vivacious that one critic wrote that "it was the sound of spilling champagne from a just-uncorked bottle".

This piece set the tone for the whole concert, a rousing, high-energy series of works which not only showcased every instrument of the orchestra but also provided a fabulously noisy afternoon of fine music.

Conductor Barry Wordsworth was back on cracking form, fully recovered from his recent illness and leaping up and down like a man possessed, inspiring all his players to give their all.

The orchestra gave magnificent accounts of Richard Strauss' tone poem Don Juan and Ravel's orchestral suite from Daphnis And Chloe. The centrepiece of the day was pianist John Lill's performance of Brahms' first piano concerto. This is a vast piece written on an almost symphonic scale and Lill, a renowned international pianist and the president of the Brighton and Hove Philharmonic Society, gave it an exemplary reading.

He has a fearsome concentration combined with an almost epic coolness and somehow made this huge work seem like nothing more than a walk in the park.