Renaissance Choir, St Peter’s Church, Petersfield, REVIEW: 'A truly magnificent performance'

Vespers at St Peter’s, Petersfield, was a concert of two distinct halves, two celebrated composers, and two distinguished performances.
By Maggie McMurray
Published 30th Oct 2019, 11:06 BST
The Renaissance Choir performed at St Peter's Church, Petersfield.The Renaissance Choir performed at St Peter's Church, Petersfield.
The Renaissance Choir performed at St Peter's Church, Petersfield.

In the first half conductor Peter Gambie presented Mozart’s Vesperae Solonnes de Confessore, said to have been strongly influenced by Michael Haydn’s Requiem Pro Defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo which featured in the second half.

It lived up to its reputation of being strikingly beautiful – it was emotionally electric and the collective voices of the Choir echoed the enormity of the composer’s messages, pulsing and sobbing the meanings within the psalms.

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Most striking of course was the spectacular Laudate Dominum where the vibrant and remarkably rich soprano voice of Susan Yarnall, soared to the rafters taking us along with it.

The absolute highlight of the evening had to be Haydn’s Requiem Pro Defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo, where the individual voices came together in unison raising our hearts, our expectations – and our pulses!  

Singing alone and at times together, the soloists  brought an emotional depth to the performance with Haydn’s score giving them ample opportunities to showcase their voices.

The overall success of the evening was finally captured in a breath-taking moment of silence followed by extensive, rapturous applause and general cheering for a truly magnificent performance .