Another must-see concert took place at the Dome Concert Hall.

Conductor Barry Wordsworth cranked up the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra to even greater things with a spectacular reading of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto.

With soloist Philip Fowke, the BPO squeezed out every phrase of romance possible in this great work. If one was to close one's eyes, it could have been a Russian reading.

Fowke is a mild-looking man but at his Steinway, he became a giant, pounding out Rachmaninov's notes as though he was a man possessed.

It was a thrilling, challenging piece and Wordsworth and his colleagues rose to the challenge and excitement.

Brass, strings, woodwind and percussion combined with the majesty of the piano to raise the hairs on the back of my neck and produce roars of approval from the audience. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

Earlier, the orchestra prepared us for something special with a piece of music I had never heard before; Carl Nielsen's overture, Helios.

Written on a visit to Athens, it was a stunning recreation of the sun rising and setting over the Aegean Sea. Solemn, magisterial and stunningly done, this was a marvellous piece of programme music. Who knows?

I may now try some of Nielsen's forbidding symphonies.

It is not surprising, with all this in the first half, Brahms' third symphony was something of an anti-climax.

It may be his trickiest symphony but no matter how well done - and it was done well - it did not hold a candle to what went before.

If anyone doesn't have a season ticket for this orchestra, I do not know why. The BPO is at its peak, the best music show in town.