When the Ardingly Choral Society had previously performed Verdi’s Requiem, which he dedicated to the memory of his friend Manzoni, a principal literary champion of the stormy Italian Risorgimento, I had congratulated it for having ‘surpassed its own high standards’. I had also praised the 2017 soloists for having ‘proved perfect partners for (Robert) Hammersley in conveying the fire, awe, pathos and structural balance in Verdi's score’, and for filling ‘the vast auditorium with controlled power, deft phrasing and expressive empathy with the text’. And I had noted how the large, appreciative audience had raised the lofty Chapel roof with their thunderous applause. So could the Society this time, complemented by an even smaller instrumental ensemble, the Sussex Chamber Orchestra led by Jonathan Truscott, and accompanied again on the organ by David Moore, emulate that performance?

I am delighted to report that this year’s performers were even more successful than the impressive 2017 forces in realising conductor Robert Hammersley’s interpretation of this nineteenth-century masterpiece. He describes it as an unconventional religious work in which ’Verdi evoked . . the same clamorous emotional states that his operatic characters so vividly portray on stage’.

This signal success, though, had been imperilled a few days before, when illness had prevented Sally Harrison from recreating her superb 2017 soprano part. But into the breach, with great distinction, stepped Australian/British Anita Watson, Sussex-based and, reassuringly, fresh from singing the very same soprano part in Lincolnshire. She completed a powerful and libretto-sensitive new quartet of soloists, all well versed in opera and sacred works, and each sang magnificently both in their own right and as a unit. But not surprisingly: mezzo soprano Lauren Easton and Anita had first performed together while still at school in Australia, while Lawrence Olsworth-Peter (tenor) and Matthew Duncan (bass) had teamed up in several recent ACS concerts.

There were also some new additions to the chorus, who sounded better than ever in this, a very stern test of ensemble work. They conveyed very convincingly those ‘clamorous emotional states’ in their full range, from the empathy and serenity of the opening Requiem, to the tumultuous fearfulness of the Dies irae, and on to the humble seeking of assurance of the closing Libera me.

The Sussex Chamber Orchestra and David Moore at the organ were also on top form. The light but sufficiently strong Joachim Linckelmann orchestration applied an assured finishing touch to this memorable, beautifully balanced performance. It was rapturously received by an intent and obviously moved large audience, who gave generously as they left to the chosen charity, the Alzheimer’s Society.