ON Sunday, June 23, the Saint Boniface Concert Society was pleased to introduce a new a Capella group of young singers founded by Devonshire bass-baritone, ex Exeter Cathedral chorister, Freddie Crowley.

Six singers presented a quite remarkable programme of music from five centuries and half-a-dozen countries.

Some items were regular church choir favourites such as Stanford’s “Beati Quorum Via” or Weelkes “Hosanna to the Son of David” and it was a joy to hear Tallis’ “Thou wast O God” without the Vaughan-Williams make-over!

There were some glorious Italian pieces by Monteverdi (Adoramus Te Christus, Cantate Dominus) and Palestrina – including the Kyrie from the “Missa Papae Marcelli”.

This was sung from the high altar in Holy Cross rather than the nave; an added demonstration of both the versatility of the singers and the church building.

The German works sung provided another contrast as did an instructive comparison of settings of the same words (“Il bianco e dolce cigno”) by Arcadelt and Vecchi.

All this sounds very serious but humour had its place from the 16th century “Now is the month of Maying” to the 20th century “I’m a train”.

However, perhaps the most surprising element during this concert was the beautiful music by the previously unknown early 17th century Scottish composer, Robert Ramsay.

This concert reminded us all that the real art of singing is alive and well; six youthful singers could fill the space of Holy Cross with glorious sound unadulterated by any modern technology save a tuning fork.

Penny Little