STEPPING in at short notice must always be a daunting prospect for any performer, no less so when it is taking on the challenging vocal music of Benjamin Britten.

But soprano Emma Bell, substituting for Sandrine Piaue, rose to the occasion when she joined the Northern Sinfonia, under the baton of Thomas Zehetmair, at The Sage Gateshead.

Bell sang Britten's Les Illuminations with gusto, but her late entry did not give her enough time to prepare for a premier of three songs, sketched, but then dropped from the final version of the song cycle.

To make up for this the audience was treated to Britten's in Memoriam to Dennis Brain, the horn maestro whose life was cut short in a car accident in 1957.

The rarely-played piece, which Britten was unable to complete, remains a touching fragment.

Another piece Britten did not complete was a clarinet concerto, the sketches of which were impounded by the US customs along with other works in progress.

And so it remained until taken up by composer Colin Matthews, who helped Britten prepare his last scores.

Performed by clarinettist Michael Collins, Matthews' orchestration of the work remains true to the spirit of Britten.

Mozart directed by Zehetmair is always guaranteed to be brilliant. Every time he takes on these old war horses he manages to extract something new.

After opening the evening with a punchy rendition of Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, he tailed the evening off with the glistening account of Symphony No 40.

At one stage Zehetmair's baton flew into audience - at the end of the movement it was held aloft triumphantly by an admirer, who seemed reluctant at first to give it back. The encore came in the shape of two fragments for string orchestra, written by Britten when only 16 - sketching out the music direction he was to take. The concert will be broadcast by Radio 3.