They are an extremely accomplished group of singers, nine voices of individual strength with a fine unison sound that is powerful with rich sonority modulating fluently down to clearly projected pianissimo, and a generally uniform balance between alto, tenor and bass voices.
Conducted by the cathedral's master of the music Neil Taylor, Tallis' five-part Lamentations of Jeremiah caught the ear here – for part, read the number of vocal lines broken down as ATTBB.

The A (altos) maybe lacked a little in volume at times, meaning some particularly strong first (T) tenor sound was prominent in the top lines of the music, all underpinned by a solid cantus firmus (usually the bottom line in a capella choral writing until the 17th century).
Perhaps not entirely perfect, but still mightily impressive.

Among less-demanding smaller pieces, Poulenc's lovely Four Little Prayers of St Francis of Assisi (written for a community of Franciscan monks) was notable, the strong tenors not letting the TBB breakdown of parts phase them.

One work the songmen were not unaccompanied in was Roxanna Panufnik's This Paradise, a new work written for the group they performed its often vocalise lines (reminiscent of Tallis in places) with, the Dante Quartet, their second visit to Sheffield this year.

The highly regarded string quartet created a greater impression this time, not least in the main work they performed, Vaughan Williams' Quartet No 2, although a moving Chacony by Purcell found nobility.

The Vaughan Williams, with excellent playing from Judith Busbridge in the exposed viola part, was first-rate, the slow movements (second and last) been particularly beautiful, the former becoming positively ecstatic after its hymn-like opening.