It was the perfect accompaniment to two songs by Henry Purcell beautifully sung by Elenor Leadbetter, her spine tingling voice perfectly matching the acoustic of the old church.

"Mad Bess" was a song about a lady mourning the death of her lover containing the words "My music shall be a groan" but Eleanor's singing was far from a groan – it was absolutely lovely.

The concert had started with Handel's Zadok the priest, sung at every Coronation since Charles the second. The opening phrase did not quite lift the roof but it was certainly impressive. The pace was a little pedestrian for my taste.

The choir then sang, "Thou knowest", a rather sad piece written for the funeral service of Queen Mary. It was sung unaccompanied with the voices in all parts blending well.

This was followed by a short piece by Mendelssohn "Lord in thy mercy" which had a strong bass start followed by a hymn like melody repeated by the altos, all parts producing a very full sound.

Throughout the concert, Antony Hunt accompanied the choir on the organ. He played a delightful interlude of music for mechanical clocks. Simple tunes with very few notes much loved by the Austrians and Swiss. David Heathcote then gave us a baritone solo of Handel's "Ombra mai fu".

Next it was the turn of Kathryn Morris, a member of the choir, to sing her solo "Let the bright Seraphim" once sung by Dame Te Kanawa at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana. Kathryn stepped forward, a smile on her face, and gave a brilliant performance, a pure voice with accurate trills and highest notes.

The first part of the concert ended with a mystery item "To be announced" which turned out to be a dissection of the Amen chorus of the Messiah. The conductor, Antony Brannick explained how the fugue was built up starting with the basses followed by tenors the altos and finally sopranos.

Antony got each part to sing separately, so the audience could appreciate the construction and then put all parts together. The choir would usually sing this with a full orchestra but Antony said, "give them an A" and they were off, singing the whole chorus unaccompanied.

The major work of the evening was Gabriel Faure's Requiem. This was a poignant piece sung in memory of Charles Pack, a member of the choir who died earlier this year.

The piece started softly with "Requiem eternal" followed by a plaintive melody "O domino Jesus Christi" first sung by the altos and tenors followed by David Heathcote singing another powerful solo. Eleanor Leadbetter sang the "Pie Jesu" soprano solo which was absolutely beautiful sung with such sensitivity.

Then it was the tenors turn to sing softly "Agnus Dei", here they were quite exposed, it was heads in books and lets-get-it-right lads but they rose to a crescendo and came out on top.

The piece ends with "In paradisum" sung quietly by the sopranos like a chorus of angels. All together a splendid performance.