Spontaneously illuminating Rodrigo from Durrant and the WSO

Durrant was on a flat-top guitar, the first to be made by luthier Gary Hearn, David Burrowes on cello and Stephen Shakeshaft on viola, and the informality and spontenaiety was typical of the world Durrant presents.

He had just made his WSO debut in Rodrigo's famous Concierto di Aranjuez, attracting an audience including newcomers to the WSO and their large concert room, who cannot have failed to be impressed by how Hearn's new Richard Durrant Concert Model guitar projected itself. At the back in the balcony I was able to appreciate its capabilities of holding its own balance with a Beethoven-sized orchestra with double woodwind, trumpets and horns.

If the details of Durrant's scurrying passage work during the moments when all were playing were not as clear as some might expect, that was because this was live, exuberant and festive music and not the ultra-doctored sound of the recording studio. An exhibition of Hearn's instruments, given with Guitar Junction, was presented in the foyer.

The di Aranjuez probably seems the shortest 20 minutes in the concerto repertoire and the finale came and went exactly like the fleeting vision of the painter Goya's ghost that the composer fancied the music may have held. By then Durrant had added his own personality, immediacy and stage presence to the experience.

Dark, tousled hair, an Alhambra Palace bricklayer's physique, a chuckling grin. Subtle fourishes of promise in his opening entry as the soloist quietly sets the scene, as though one had turned a corner and happened on a guitarist summoning a small gathering of dancers into action. Later, his sound flickered in and out of focus just as Rodrigo's intended in this fantasy. Notes flitting, as though the accompanying Aranjuez birdlife in and out of the bushes and fragrant magnolias.

Delicious Spanish rubato in the second theme of the memorable adagio. A richly explorative unaccompanied solo section in this second movement. A sensuously tactile cadenza, and after conductor John Gibbons' resigned yet resolute response that follows this, a languid and colourful melting away into the night by soloist with orchestra.

Durrant, due to perform at the Royal Albert Hall next May with the London Philharmonic, told me after rehearsals how impressed he was with the Assembly Hall and the WSO.

While recording companies would undoubtedly use the Assembly Hall were it nearer London, Gibbons, in his 10th year in charge, has made his first significant changes to his orchestral team. Brass and horns are virtually fresh units and the rank and file strings have been strengthened.

Audience regulars heard the first fruits if this in the opening concert last month. This time, their opening account of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, if just slightly lacking in angst and pronounced tension, alerted one to a freshened-up directness, clarity and strength. Their sound in their account of Holst's St Paul's Suite, the 19 strings players only, would have stood up on record - indeed Gibbons hopes to attract sponsorship and investment to facilitate the WSO making a CD.

His alert programming placed Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his Orfeo & Euridice opera as a suitably etherial preparation for the Rodrigo. And in conclusion, their account of Beethoven's witty, while substantial, yet superbly economical Eighth Symphony confidently grasped the nettle. Gibbons' tempi were steady, he avoided underlining the humour, and let the notes do the talking.

Principal flute Monica McCarron bore us on featherlight airs in the Gluck and Gavin McHaughton, the only new principal wind player, provided in the symphony, first, Haydnesque bassoon, then later, Beethoven's own merry advancements on that.

Gibbons' verbal introductions continue to open the door to classical music newcomers. And, an award-winner in this part of concert giving, he winningly found it impossible to avoid alluding to the latest Wolrd Cup rugby shocks. But his most important advice came before the symphony: "Don't always follow the tune: you'll miss all the detail around it."

He is due to give one of his open talks about listening to music, on November 3 at West Dean College, West Sussex.

The WSO are part of the borough council's Remembrance Day commemorations on November 11 and will give an evocative concert ranging from the Dambusters March, through Elgar's Nimrod and Cello Concerto (soloist David Cohen), and John Williams' theme from the film Schindler's List (violin soloist, leader Julian Leaper), to the life-affirming Fifth Symphony of Sibelius.

Richard Durrant's next appearances will be at the Airport Club at Shoreham's Ropetackle (Oct 12, Nov 9 and Dec 14), The Hawth, Crawley with his ambient The Guitar Whisperer act (Oct 26), and a Christmas Recital at Wilmington Village Church in East Sussex (Dec 7).