Riccardo Muti has become a rare visitor to London, but this quite exceptional performance of Verdi's Messa da Requiem, with the cathedral providing an added sense of occasion, showed what this country's musical life has been missing. Not since Carlos Kleiber's last performances here has there been conducting of such imperious intensity as Muti brought to Verdi's masterpiece.

Any reservations at all? Of course. Like any large cathedral, Westminster has an echoing acoustic in which orchestral detail are easily drowned. The delicate counterpoint and syncopation of the Sanctus disappeared almost entirely. With the exception of Olga Borodina - magnificent throughout - each of the soloists also struggled briefly. But there were unusual gains, too. The setting was a reminder that, in spite of its highly operatic qualities, this is an existential work like no other by this composer. The off-stage trumpets of the Last Judgment created an electrifying effect no concert hall could rival. There was something memorably awesome about the swirling waves of compound sound rolling down the nave in the climaxes.

This performance belonged to Muti. His grip was total. He asked for and received every ounce of effort from his massed forces. Yet this was in no sense either a hard-driven performance or a vulgar ego trip. Muti was not afraid to broaden climaxes in the mighty Dies Irae, while he brought out exquisite details of dynamics, accent or phrasing from his orchestra and singers. At times, the soloists seemed to be singing like expressions of the conductor's will. The sense of architecture was unerring, notably in the closing pages of the Libera Me, where Muti followed Verdi's score to the letter, allowing a dramatic pause between the soprano's prayer for deliverance and the shattering return of the Dies Irae. In an interview last week, Muti called this moment a vacuum of intensity. And so it proved. A masterclass in conducting.