Halifax's beautiful parish church was the perfect setting for two contrasting requiems by Cherubini and Faure, performed by Halifax Choral Society, accompanied by organist David Houlder and conducted by John Pryce-Jones.

Italian-born Cherubini spent most of his life in Paris where, in 1816, he wrote his requiem in C minor, much admired then by Beethoven and Berlioz among others but seldom performed today.

It has its sepulchral moments but with its extravagant mood changes, particularly in the dramatic, extended Dies Irae, it is stylistically conventional for its period.

The choir made the most of its opportunities, resplendently baroque in the Sanctus, swinging along optimistically in the fugal Offertorium, the final beautifully sustained pianissimo C hanging in the air as a simple assignation of faith.

When Faure, an agnostic, first conducted his requiem in 1887, it caused controversy as much for its text as musical treatment.

Oliver Binns, treble, aquitted himself commendably in the very difficult Pie Jesu. John Filsak, bass, was perhaps a little raw round the edges in his solos. Unforgettable were the shimmering Sanctus, the muted drama of the Libera Me, and the throbbing intensity of the final In Paradisum. It seemed almost crass to applaud.