Solomon's Song of Songs, as the Hebrew text calls it, contains some of the most ravishingly sensuous love poetry ever written. The voice of love is a woman's voice, speaking profoundly of its beauty and delights, its exclusiveness and its spontaneity. It breathes erotic intensity without apology, yet with startling innocence and candour.

Composers have been fascinated by its magnetic allure for hundreds of years and conductor Keith Bennett's masterly compilation started with the 12th century visionary, Hildegard of Bingen's Favus distillans, a plainsong chant for women's voices, vibrant and urgent, sung from the altar, pure and distinctive, the ideal opener.

Palestrina linked the settings and two were especially effective, Surge propera, lively and full of movement: and Quam pulchri sunt, brimming with ripe imagery, both sung with immaculate balance and a warm voluptuous tone – entirely fitting.

We had some novelties too: Clemens non Papa's Ego flos campi and Cipriano de Rore's Descendi in hortum neum. Jane Hunt sang a setting by the 17th century nun Lucrezia Vizzana, Sonet vox tua which sounded ethereally spiritual in this splendid acoustic. She also sang Grandi's O quam tu pulchra es with grace and just the right sense of longing.

There were modern voices too: Walton's robust yet tender Set me as a seal, sung with a confident sense of purpose, a wonderfully effective setting by Ivan Moody of Descendi in hortum meum, alive with interesting harmonic ideas and perhaps best of all, Howard Skempton's Rise up my love, with a palpable sense of restrained mystery underlying the piece.

The choir brought warmth and barely contained passion to it, evoking the beauty of the text exactly as it requires.

Victoria's Vidi speciosan was the final offering, with its opulent rich sound, unhurried and tranquil.

The group clearly relished the opportunity to show us just how good Victoria's writing is and this was a performance which had balance, tonal variety, and above all, it communicated the essence of the words with clarity and resonance. A long, concentrated sing for the choir, but the evening was a triumph of imaginative programme planning and vocal excellence.

Peter Lloyd Williams