A MOVING, not overly sombre performance of the famous work that has more of Süssmayr's fingerprints on it than Mozart's.
Despite a large soprano presence, the all-student University of Sheffield Chamber Choir sang with admirable balance, doubtless owing everything to hyper-energetic conductor Nigel Simeone.
Nevertheless, his direction was meticulously pointed with m
omentum always evident and he can be as animated as he wants if he achieves the sort of results he did.
His choir responded with powerful, strong rhythmic and accurate singing when required, part-writing was generally clearly delineated and word clarity was surprisingly good. Add a fresh, robust sound and it was all very impressive.
Even more impressive were four young soloists who sang throughout, as the solo quartet and with the chorus.
All are undergraduates, except the strong-voiced lyric tenor Stewart Campbell, a fairly recent graduate and Sheffield Cathedral Songman.
Chloe Saywell revealed a cleanly-pitched bell-like soprano voice, Philippa Dand has the makings of a true contralto and the youngest of them, 19-year-old Matthew Palmer, is an amazingly well-developed bass.
A further bonus was the playing of all-student University Chamber Orchestra which, apart from occasional minor difficulties and a major one, provided quality, sonorous playing.
Simon Keefe's authoritative pre-performance talk from the pulpit put Süssmayr's completion of the work into the context of its time, but it got a little involved musicologically.
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