A great couple of days in London. The high point, a quite outstanding evening at Wigmore Hall — the wondrous Lea Desandre and Thomas Dunford (and the Jupiter ensemble) performing Dowland and Purcell.

Their new CD is terrific, and the live version of basically the same programme was even more so. One of the very best concerts we have been to in recent years, with Lea Desandre absolutely compelling. The barely controlled emotion as she sung Purcell’s “O let me weep, for ever weep” — interweaving with Louise Ayrton’s touchingly plangent baroque violin — made for an extraordinary experience. And as for Dido’s Lament …

Not that the concert was all sombre or doleful. For example, “O let me weep …” was followed immediately with sunlight in “Now the night is chased away.” Here’s a snatch from their rehearsal of that earlier in the day. And as you’ll see, while Jupiter are joined by four singers on the CD, in the concert — quite delightfully — the band themselves also provided, as it were, Lea’s occasional backing vocals. An evening to remember for a long time.

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