Over the years since its foundation, St George's church must have seen memorable celebrations on the name-day of its own and England's patron saint.

In terms of the 16th- and early-17th-century English repertoire, this celebration must count as one of the most unassuming, but, with countertenor Andreas Scholl's voice ringing out with such extraordinary clarity, surely one of the most glorious.

Since St George's Day also marks the birthday of William Shakespeare, this concert neatly wove sonnets and speeches from plays into the proceedings. The bard, however, fared rather less well than the saint. Veteran actor Vernon Dobtcheff managed to strike a note that was often falsely debonair. It was ironic, too, that for all his well-modulated speaking tones, Dobtcheff was outclassed by the ultra-perfect enunciation of Scholl.

As well as ayres by John Dowland and Thomas Campion, Scholl sang folksongs whose artless simplicity, all arching lines and unselfconscious strophic repetition, highlighted his instinct for the emotional value of every word. This allowed him to bring out all the drama of the narrative songs, their pacing and characterisation, with quite impeccable control. In his final song, Lord Rendall, the alternating voices of the dying lord and his mother were most movingly differentiated, and the growing awareness of the underlying tragedy was as powerful as in any more overtly dramatic ballad.

But the marriage of finely judged words and exquisitely defined tone was nowhere more affecting than the Dowland songs, I Saw My Lady Weep and Flow, My Tears, arguably the iconic Elizabethan ayres. Here, Scholl's voice had an anguished quality.

Lutenist Kurt-Ernst Schroeder and harpist Mara Galassi provided the subtle accompaniment to these, as well as playing the solo pavanes. Yet it is the image of Scholl moving to the front of the stage to deliver, unaccompanied, the folksong King Henry with manly bearing and authority that will reinforce the indelible impression of this singularly beautiful voice.