Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Christ Church, Oxford <br></br>Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Without his early training as a chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, Walton might never have been a composer at all, so Friday's concert there was hugely appropriate, as a tribute from the place that made him. A slightly off-beat selection of music was tied together by lively readings from Walton's boyhood letters, delivered in impeccable Lancs by young Joshua Hustwick, reminding us that while worrying about football matches and school jam, the 14-year-old composer was already producing astonishing pieces such as A Litany.

Given by the choir in three different versions – a touch uncertain in the first, for trebles and altos, but plangent and poignant in the more familiar full-choir settings, it featured alongside the Jubilate Deo and The Twelve. Ian Partridge – one of our best and best-loved lyric tenors – eked out Walton's regrettably small solo repertoire with songs by contemporaries Warlock and Vaughan Williams – outstandingly, the latter's unearthly "The New Ghost".

Three unknown songs by the 16-year-old composer showed the early influence not only of Warlock but of Stravinsky, too, who also got a look in with a scintillating rendition of movements from Petrushka from the pianists Driskill-Smith and Christian Wilson. And Christ Church choir and soloists excelled themselves in a magical performance of Lambert's The Rio Grande – sultry blues and all. Stalwart organ-playing from David Goode, and the accurate but imperturbable direction of Stephen Darlington, helped to make this a most enjoyable tribute.

Walton apparently wrote no original brass-band music, but surely, growing up in Lancashire in the 1900s, its peculiar combination of metallic scrunchiness and suppressed emotion must have been an influence. A rare visit to the South Bank by the amazing Grimethorpe Colliery UK Coal Band under Elgar Howarth proved that his music certainly works well in this format.

The Spitfire Prelude and Fugue made an electrifying opening, redolent of heady days when patriotism was still allowed. Here again, Walton's small output meant that other associated composers featured, with John Ireland's Downland Suite and Howarth's Stories for Saroyan showing the remarkable dynamic and expressive range of this fine ensemble – not to mention the dexterity of euphonium soloist Michael Dodd. The First Shoot, a late rewrite of a number from a Thirties revue, was full of Walton's acerbic wit. Arnold's Cornish Dances blew away the cocktail fumes, and an arrangement of the music for Richard III was all blazing splendour and the great spreading tunes that Walton was so good at. I defy anyone not to be thrilled by playing like this.