The Sixteen’s programme of Tudor sacred music was as close to perfection as it is possible to be. The concert of music by Sheppard, Byrd and Tallis was breathtaking in its clarity and beauty.

Sheppard’s ecstatic and monumental Media vita in morte sumus was the heart of the performance, but there were no makeweights. Byrd’s cheerful, complex Laudibus in sanctis set the standard and the supremely confident choir performed throughout with impossible ease.

The soprano line was remarkable in the Jesu Salvator; although the voices had flawless balance throughout, the singers seeming barely to glance at their scores but paying constant attention to each other as well as the conductor.

The difficult Iam Christus in the second half was sung with the same aplomb. Even the shorter pieces, Byrd’s lively Haec dies and Tallis’ complex canonic Miserere nostri, were equally as moving and memorable as the longer works. Infelix ego was lovely, dramatic and far from glum, despite the text.

The evening had a measure of graceful understated theatricality, beginning with the plainchant processional at the start, the careful lighting, the very elegant physical style of Harry Christophers’ conducting and the strangely beautiful signing for the deaf by Paul Whittaker. This no doubt worthwhile initiative by Music for the Deaf must have been a little distracting for those at the front, however, and hard to see from further back.

This was an intelligently and beautifully chosen programme, impeccably performed by what may now be the finest sacred music choir in the country.