It might be literally appropriate to allocate four stars to Saturday night's RSNO concert, which featured in its second half a powerful performance of Walton's oratorio, Belshazzar's Feast, conducted by Richard Hickox. As overwhelming as the singing of the RSNO Chorus was, work is still needed to harness their power, in terms of security and confidence of tone, as well as absolute homogeneity of an ensemble still prone to raggedy edges and a degree of tentativeness.

That said, the achievement of the chorus under its director Tim Dean was already evident in the dramatic force the singers unleashed, and the sheer quality of singing they produced, for Hickox's incendiary interpretation and a blazing RSNO performance that raised the hairs on the back of the neck.

Unequivocally, however, the orchestra's playing in the first half was a five-star job in every department, transcending even their best performances in recent memory, and quite possibly amounting to one of the supreme RSNO performances of the modern era.

Those who are aware know absolutely that Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem is a masterpiece. It's just not played enough, or with sufficient conviction, to reveal its proper status. Hickox's interpretation cut to the heart of the work in its every dark shadow and grim implication, and the RSNO, with the decisive leadership of guest first violinist Jim Clark, one of the best in the business, played it with unrelenting and aching concentration.

Which leaves just a word for the heart-stopping performance of baritone Roderick Williams, awesome in the Walton, and whose golden voice touched the soul in Mahler's Ruckert Lieder. Singing to cherish on a night to remember.