Forget the tumbler of whisky before bed. There is no better preparation for a good night’s sleep than to take in one of the late night Proms, drinking in some timeless score in the hushed ambience of a half-filled hall, as the hands of the clock tick steadily towards midnight.

For most people in the audience it is probably the second concert of the evening. Tuesday’s line-up offered a typically contrasted pair of events: first a standard orchestral programme featuring the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Roger Norrington and then a plunge into the distant past with unaccompanied choral music from the Tallis Scholars.