Cricket whites on Dorchester village recreation ground, with long shadows and autumn tints in the background. The scene would have particularly suited Haydn’s Seasons, but it also seemed an ideal prelude to a performance of The Creation in Dorchester Abbey. With the Orchestra of St John’s and OSJ Voices, Haydn’s masterpiece rounded off this year’s Music in the Abbey festival. As he revealed in an Oxford Times interview, conductor John Lubbock came to love The Creation comparatively recently, having previously not connected with it. That love was evident from the outset, with a carefully detailed performance of the opening Representation of Chaos. Whisper-quiet string playing led beautifully into the first recitative: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Every bar of The Creation proclaims Haydn’s confident religious convictions — he was an old man when he wrote it, but his faith sounds sparklingly fresh and youthful. That overriding aspect of the music was well brought out by the chorus in this performance. “Awake the harp”, “The heavens are telling” and “Achieved is the glorious work” came over as explosions of joy, with conductor Lubbock setting OSJ Voices some fast tempi. Well balanced across the four parts, the Voices (chorus master: Jeremy Jackman) more than held their own however, rising to some terrific climaxes.

Much fun is to be had with Haydn’s descriptive recitatives and airs. David Stout, singing Raphael, got the lion’s share of these, ranging from “In long dimension creeps, with sinuous trace, the worm” to “by heavy beasts the ground is trod” — this splendidly reinforced by a raspberry from the brass section. He was ably supported by tenor Julian Gavin, but Eliana Pretorian sounded less happy as soprano soloist: too often, words disappeared under a welter of vibrato. Things improved considerably in her final duet however, which led on to a triumphant closing chorus: “Sing the Lord, ye voices all”.