This was immediately seen in the first Schubert song – Im Haine – where the accompaniment flowed along easily and William’s light and relaxed articulation of the highly-decorated line combined to illustrate the poet’s lightness of heart. It continued into the Goethe setting where the singer became the fish and then the horse of the lover’s fancy and into the pathos of Die Liebe hat gelogen – ‘love has lied’. But the high point of the first half came with a remarkable performance of Finzi’s masterpiece – Channel Firing – in which we felt the roar of the guns, saw the mouse drop its food with surprise and heard the voice of Hardy’s cynical God berate mankind for its addiction to war – a truly contemporary message.

The second half brought a complete performance of Finzi’s cycle Earth and Air and Rain of which the highlights were the delightful military fantasy of ‘Rollicum rorum’ and the simplicity of ‘To Lizbie Brown’ – an object lesson in how to set a strophic song. The eerie atmospheres of both ‘The Phantom’ and ‘The clock of the years’ were wonderfully evoked and the true horror of forcing time to reverse made clear in Roderick Williams’ demeanour.

This was an unforgettable evening of music for Concert Club members and a veritable masterclass in Song.