'I can't stand this kind of thing," my neighbour remarked at the beginning of the Oxford Bach Ensemble's performance of the St Matthew Passion. I hasten to add that he was not referring to Bach's masterpiece, but to conductor Paul Plummer's announcement that he was about to rehearse the audience, so it could sing some of the Chorales.

While Plummer could usefully have given us a clearer beat, his decision to spread the singing around was in tune with this basically community event - the Oxford Bach Ensemble has strong associations with New College School, and with St Margaret's Church. The school, together with the Hildegard Choir, provided the ripieno chorus in the opening Come ye daughters (the performance was given in English). Sadly, the ripieno got rather lost under the powerful sound produced by the large main choir - doubtless Health and Safety prevented the placing of the ripieno up above in the organ loft.

A community feeling also reigned in the choice of many different soloists, drawn from the main choir, for the arias. Standards inevitably varied considerably, from the frankly nervous and out of tune to Rebecca Stockland's moving interpretations of Ah! Now is my Saviour gone! and Have mercy, Lord, on me. Among several others, there was firm work from Jonathan Stork and Benjamin Thompson, with a heartfelt Break in grief coming from Nancy-Jane Rucker. Although some of the music seemed a touch high for Evangelist William Petter, he delivered the story with great narrative force, while Robert Rice was an authoritative Christus.

All eight sections of the double choir sounded well matched and generally confident - Behold, My Saviour now is taken, where Bach masterfully contrasts tempi between soloists and choir, was particularly effective. Paul Plummer conducted throughout with due regard to the meditative nature of the music, while never forgetting that the St Matthew Passion is also Bach's great dramatic opera.