Commotio’s a capella concert at Merton College Chapel last weekend bore all the hallmarks of this extraordinary choir – a fascinating mix of different styles by mainly contemporary composers, all showcasing these singers’ remarkable rapport and range of techniques. Conductor Matthew Berry, as ever, prised the very best out of the choir with clear, purposeful gestures that left no room for doubt.

The first part of the programme found the choir in reflective mood, with settings of sacred texts by Charles Ives, Kenneth Leighton, Jonathan Bridcut and James Whitbourn, all delivered in suitably contemplative style. But it was the setting of four First World War poems, by choir member John Duggan, that particularly seized the attention in this opening half.

The poems – Wilfred Owen’s The Send-off, Isaac Rosenberg’s Returning we hear the larks, Siegfried Sassoon’s Everyone Sang and Ivor Gurney’s Requiem Pour out your light, O stars – followed a logical progression from departure to joyous return, through to grieving remembrance, and allowed Duggan to demonstrate his skills in powerfully evoking the meaning of the texts to ensure a stirring experience.

Finland’s Jaakko Mäntyjärvi presented the choir with a real test with his settings of four Shakespearian songs, of which Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, with the choir intoning the witches’ lines from Macbeth with realistic venom, was arguably the most memorable.

At the heart of the second half was Peter Dickinson’s poignant tribute to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, written a year after the atrocity and revived here to mark its 20th anniversary. The austere setting, presented as a series of news bulletins, captures the unfolding events with exceptional clarity, and the choir, as always, gave a faithful and heartfelt performance.

Finally, Eric Whitacre’s extraordinary Cloudburst saw the choir joined by piano, percussion and handbells to create the effect of a rainstorm. The combination of sounds included clapping and finger-clicking, and gradually rose to a crescendo to bring the evening to a breathtaking finish.