“In one way or another, all of the music in this programme is concerned with faith and belief,” wrote conductor Sam Allchurch ahead of the Sydney Chamber Choir’s German Romantics. “How these concepts were worked remains for me the most interesting side of the 19th century.”

Allchurch’s passion for this music was on display in Sydney University’s Great Hall as he lead the SCC through a beautifully constructed programme of Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, Herzogenberg, Rheinberger and Schoenberg.

^{Sydney Chamber Choir. Photo © Nick Gilbert}

The choir brought excellent diction and an affecting resonance to the opening RIchte mich, Gott (Judge me, O God) by Mendelssohn. Pianist Jem Harding provided a shimmering accompaniment to the Mendelssohn’s more tranquil Denn er hat seinen Engeln (For he was given his angels charge over you) – Allchurch’s conducting style loose and relaxed more coaxing than demanding – before the pastoral catharsis of Schubert’s setting of Gott ist mein Hirt – Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, in a German translation by Felix’s grandfather Moses Mendelssohn.

The tranquillity of the Schubert extended into the opening Andante section of Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso Op....