Schola Cantorum, Oxford University’s longest-running chamber choir, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a gala concert in May, and on Sunday night they gave us a taste of things to come with a short but intense unaccompanied recital that oozed musical and emotional commitment from every pore. This was a characteristically fearless, no-nonsense performance, in which conductor James Burton ensured the usual attention to detail in both interpretation and delivery. Some choirs might baulk at singing such technically demanding music without the prop of an accompanist, but there was no shaky intonation here, just a supreme confidence allied with some crisp diction and deft handling of dynamics.

Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Requiem, from his 1603 composition Officium Defunctorium (Office of the Dead), set the bar for the evening, as the choir explored this pensive and at times introspective view of the anguish and desolation of death, drawing out the drama and emotion with great clarity. This six-part work, Victoria’s choral masterpiece, is a challenge to any choir, with its fluid, measured polyphony, but one that this choir appeared to have little difficulty with. There was a well-sustained sound throughout, with a wonderful purity of tone, and some lovely soaring notes from the sopranos.

The same could be said for the second piece, J.S. Bach’s Jesu, meine Freude, which continued the theme of death but from a more optimistic viewpoint; here the focus is on Christ’s ability to free man from the pain of death, and thanks are offered for his gifts of love and protection, interwoven with expressions of defiance against death. The choir handled the contrasting moods admirably, and once again there was a well-controlled delivery throughout, with the sound resonating beautifully.This was a moving, inspiring and ultimately uplifting evening, with some wonderfully spine-tingling moments – everything you might expect, in fact, from one of Oxford’s leading choirs.

For information on the anniversary gala, visit www.schola-cantorum.net