They moved on to four settings by Jacob Avshalomov of lines by the contemporary English poet Ruth Pitter. More than any other, these displayed Volti's very considerable skills, and very rare lapses. In the first poem, ”Dew,” the chorus managed to find and sustain dissonance in a field of warm vocalism. It ended in a breathtaking falsetto, yet another of Geary's winning final impressions. “Call Not to Me” was troubled by an asynchronicity, especially among the sopranos. As they struggled with pitch, the wagon slipped its wheels. Polymetric effects became merely awkward. A sudden drive in tempo proved an unconvincing lurch. Fortunately, the work ended with a startling false cadence, here impeccably rounded and perfectly realized. “The Mayfly” is a clever and sympathetic look at a very brief life. The choral interjections missed nothing. The sequence ended with “For Sleep, or Death.” Here, Volti's alert diction and mastery of pianissimo served the text in a heartfelt and modest form.

They enjoyed consistent success in Alan Fletcher's settings of two well-known poems by WB Yeats, “Lake Isle of Innisfree” and “Fiddler of Dooney.” In the former, working against a fundamentally unsympathetic setting by the composer, this chorus overcame its obstacles with engraved pitch, and with lovely lift and tapering of phrase. Alto Ariela Morgenstern was a persuasive leader. “Fiddler” became a sung dance, and the chorus was master of its rhythmic demands.

The concert's second half opened with Charles Martin Loeffler's unpublished ”Angelus” as reconstructed by Winges. Traditional in sound, but curious in form, it featured a sort of articulate pedal point given by a subset of the chorus, and swirling above it an Ave Maria.

Geary then talked about “Yoolis: A 14th Century Carol Variation,” another contribution to the group by the indefatigable Winges. Based on an original English carol, it is built on several motifs extracted and turned over and over. Tenor Ben Barr and soprano Tonia D'Amelio led the incantations, and every singer struggled with Middle English pronunciation. They were not uniformly successful, but hail to their courage. Chaucer's speech had seven long vowels, final e's were losing their inflection, and the "great vowel shift" was just around the corner. These singers were internally inconsistent from time to time, but their diligence was amazing. At best, it sounded like Danes dropped into Appalachia, and that's not bad at all.

In Wayne Peterson's setting of the “Carol” by Elizabethan poet William Austin, they seem to have abandoned dialect singing altogether, and that was probably wise. Instead, they concentrated on the rich variety of choral layers offered by the composer, and especially succeeded in its simple, bold intensities.

The Chichester Mass of William Albright is drawn from the English Mass tradition. The women sounded to their best advantage in its Kyrie. They were rich, warm, generous, and evocative. Although the Hosanna opened with a degree of messiness, everything was redeemed in the Agnus Dei, and this company's sound glowed from the core.

In purely sonic terms, the concert ended with the best. After praising the glories of Morten Lauridsen's “Magnum Mysterium,” Geary declared that "hopefully we will live up to all that hype" and drew us into the contemplative joys of this wondrous music. Its concluding Alleluia was deeply felt, tastefully shaped, and most moving. Prolonged applause followed this revelation.

So too did an encore, Franz Biebl's “Ave Maria,” in which the ten men of Volti shone especially, as did the Latin text and all its healing powers.

In its first 24 years, this group did business as the San Francisco Chamber Singers. Beginning its second quarter-century as Volti, they proved wholly in charge of a wide range of style and era. It was an admirable achievement and left a very good impression.