Until 2015, the abbreviation LFBM stood for the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music but the airline sponsor withdrew after three decades and now the “L” stands for London. Without a principal backer, the programme has shrunk a little but audiences and artists have remained loyal both to each other and to a great institution.

Westminster Abbey was almost full for this year’s LFBM performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt given by the abbey choir and St James’s Baroque Players. The orchestra itself recalls the festival’s modest beginnings in 1984 when St James’s Church, Piccadilly was the sole venue and the Players formed for it.

Israel in Egypt is a mighty sing and the choir was given evensong off. They performed the later 1756 version, which was a slight disappointment as it spoils the symmetry of the original by cutting the first movement.