The programme having been billed 'Eternal Light and Waves', I had expected something vaguely nautical and summery for the Bermuda Chamber Choir's concert on Sunday, it being the beginning of the Tall Ships week and all that. I certainly did not expect two requiems, selections from a third and a pavane for a dead child; however, the Bermuda Chamber Choir's concert at Wesley Methodist Church, was delightful and not at all depressing.

While two requiems in one programme might at first seem too much of a good thing, it was interesting to hear how two different composers, born a century apart, interpreted similar texts and themes.

The choir, directed by Ryan Ellis and accompanied by visiting organist Jeffrey Kempskie, opened with 20th century American composer Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna. The work was created, as the very helpful programme notes pointed out, in 1997, the year of Lauridsen's mother's death.

Though the opening chords of the organ were sombre, the mood soon shifted to something more serene, with an interesting interplay between organ and voice. The soaring voices of the exhortation 'Exaudi orationem meam' (O hear my prayers) then returned to the quieter themes of the beginning of the movement.

The second movement 'In Te, Domine, Speravi' (In you, Lord, we have hoped), was altogether different, with strange discordant sounds, evoking darkness and threatening shadows, dispersed by light in the third movement, just as dawn pushes back the fearful night, and brings new hope.

The movement ended with the sense of the soul's peaceful passage from one world to the next. The fourth movement, 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' (Come, Holy Spirit) was a bright, vivid piece, reflecting the full splendour and power Light, joyously revealed. It suggested that a requiem should acknowledge not only an ending, but a new beginning.

The final movement, 'Agnus Dei - Lux Aeterna', left one consoled and hopeful, and with the Alleluia, one felt the soul had indeed joined the angelic choir.

The performance of the piece with the minimum of pause between the movements, demanding for the choir, gave a sense of fluidity, reflecting how easily when grieving one can shift from one emotion to the next, but also a sense of peace and continuity.

In contrast, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem Op. 48, comprising the majority of the second half of the programme, seemed far more melancholy. Composed in 1887-88, it comprised seven quite distinct and diverse movements and was described in the programme notes as "the most serene, ethereal and sublime of all the Requiem Masses", though programme notes notwithstanding, not my favourite of the two.

The piece has an interesting texture, with the interplay of choir, solo soprano and baritone, viola, violin and even harp (via keyboard). The 'Pie Jesus', sweetly sung by soprano Kimberley Brough, had a faintly Oriental feel, and the choral 'Agnus Dei', created a sense of gathering storms, the whirlwind of the Holy Spirit.

Baritone Peter Nash sang feelingly the plea 'Libera Me' (Deliver me, O Lord/from eternal death). The seventh and final movement, 'In Paridisum' opening with the angelic voices of the sopranos, left one feeling that indeed there was the promise of eternal rest.

The two halves of the concert were separated by Maurice Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte, a sweet and delicate piece for pianoforte played feelingly by Oliver Grant.

The programme also included two selections from Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem, Op. 45, interesting with the slowly, steady pulse of the base notes and phrases of a familiar hymn threading through the first movement and a more joyful 'Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen' (How lovely are thy tabernacles).

It was a challenging programme, and in spite of the heat, the choir met the challenge confidently. One could have wished for a little more strength from the tenors, but that said, one can emphatically declare that the goal of the concert "to represent the highly individualised approach to the traditional text and interpretation of a Requiem" was met in a highly satisfactory manner.

The extensive and carefully compiled programme notes helped those less familiar with the genre to understand and interpret the music, thus enriching their experience.

The Bermuda Chamber Choir, and producers The Bermuda School of Music, are to be congratulated for an interesting and enjoyable afternoon of emotive music.