Among Oxford’s many chamber choirs, Sospiri is probably one of the least known – which is a pity, because this is a very fine choir, as the singers ably demonstrated on Saturday in an evening of devotional music spanning five centuries.

In the first half, we were treated to unaccompanied pieces by William Byrd and Tomàs Luis da Victoria, arguably two of the finest choral composers of the 16th-century. Five of Victoria’s 18 settings of text from The Lamentations of Jeremiah vividly recalled the betrayal of Christ by Judas, and were sandwiched between two penitential pieces by Byrd from his 1589 Cantiones sacrae. A suitably reverential, sober approach from the choir, combined with some clear enunciation and well observed dynamics, ensured that these pieces were as movingly delivered as they deserved to be.

The highlight of the evening, though, had to be American composer David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion, which premiered in New York in 2007 as a work for solo voices and percussion, and was here being given its UK premiere in a new choral version. Inspired by Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Lang has followed its format to retell the story of Hans Christian Andersen’s tragic young heroine, who freezes to death after unsuccessfully trying to sell her matches.

The result is a powerfully stirring piece that alternates gentle, contemplative numbers with dramatic narrative passages, characterised by high, staccato vocal lines that hammer home the anguish of the girl’s miserable life. Lang’s particular skill lies in using voices for percussive effect, and with the addition of a glockenspiel and tubular bells, punctuated by deep, menacing rumbles of a drum, he has produced an extraordinary work of great emotional intensity. Chris Watson, who sang in the New York premiere, conducted the performance with great tenderness, drawing a heartfelt response from his singers, who also coped admirably with the emotional and technical demands of the piece. Wonderful.