Bath Minerva Choir with Bathphil: Bath Abbey

Bath, the city of choirs: we surely hold the record for the number of singing groups – a veritable crescendo of choruses, large and small, each with its own loyal following, its own distinctive characteristics and style: and each bringing special satisfaction to both singers and listeners. How many are there? I've lost count, but what pleasure they give.

Minerva, continuing their renaissance under Gavin Carr's masterly direction, have developed a very full, rich sound, allied to a vocal discipline which gave us a dramatic and musically well-informed performance of Beethoven's Mass in C major. It doesn't get as frequent a hearing as it deserves, with its scrupulously crafted choral writing, skilfully integrated with the solo quartet.

The opening Kyrie, with its gently spiritual opening develops into a big climax and leads into the two main movements, Gloria and Credo, sung with conviction and commitment, the big extrovert vocal quality contrasting with beautifully balanced pianissimo singing. For a big choir – more than 100 singers – they combine flexibility and satisfying depth. The Benedictus was exquisitely sung, with the legato chorus line underscoring the quartet. And the final Dona nobis pacem found exactly the right sense of peace.

The soloists were soprano Kishani Jayasinghe with a ringing high register and Jeanette Ager with a rich clear mezzo, immaculately phrased. I enjoyed James Oxley's crisp dramatic tenor and Paul Reeves' warm resonant bass. There was some excellent playing from Bathphil, particularly the brass and woodwind and Beethoven's distinctive complex scoring supported the singers to produce a very satisfying combination of sound.

We also heard Beethoven's Leonora No 3, which developed, after a rather tentative introduction, into a splendid triumphant finale. And an immensely good humoured bravura performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto from Crispian Steele-Perkins, twinkly as always, bringing his own special flavour to this popular piece, which he must have played more times than he can remember. It was as fresh and joyous as we could wish.

Peter Lloyd Williams