Then something made me look at this YouTube video - recorded with wonderful resonance in the church of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London, just round the corner from where I briefly worked in a laboratory... and it is the very best performance I have ever heard.
It had me holding my breath, while tears rolled down my cheeks.
Note: This performance confirms for me that adult women trebles are now, and have been for some four decades, the highest quality choral sopranos of our age; superseding pre-pubescent boys. The alto line is perhaps more controversial, with adult women and adult male counter-tenors both having superseded boys whose voices are beginning to break. But my preference in early choral music is now for adult women trained to sing as those in the Tenebrae choir - in a pure tone and without vibrato. However, I prefer counter-tenors for solo work in pre-18th century music, due to the superior cutting edge and masculinity of the voice.
