Oxford Harmonic’s summer concert was truly a case of climbing to a mighty pinnacle. The sound levels reached must have shaken the Town Hall’s plaster cherubs to the core too, for the home team was augmented by a large contingent from the Gwent Bach Society.

When a composer is described as “comparatively unknown to performers, and little studied by scholars” this can either mean that he is unjustly neglected, or that he isn’t worth the bother. Alas, Antonio Caldara falls into the latter category. In spite of the best efforts of all concerned, his Stabat Mater can only be described as plodding – although the choir, conducted by Gwent’s Roger Langford, did manage to inject a bit of drama into Pierce my heart once.

A well-deserved rest for the choir next as Robert Secret, musical director of both Oxford Harmonic and the accompanying Orchestra of Stowe Opera, appeared as soloist in Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G major. Beginning with a stately Largo, conductor Langford followed with a punchy Allegro and a top-speed Presto that really put Secret through his paces – was the soloist’s grin at the end a sign of pure pleasure, or a certain relief at having ended up in one piece? This was indeed a stimulating performance.

Roger Langford remained at the helm for the next work, Pergolesi’s Magnificat in B flat. Opening and closing with well-accomplished, dancing orchestral accompaniment, Langford managed to retain the light, transparent touch required for this composer’s music – no small achievement with this size of choir.

Tump, tump, tump, goes the opening of Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ Mass. This masterpiece is in a different league to everything that had gone before, as Robert Secret, now on the podium, clearly demonstrated. With strong soloists (Anna Sideris, Richard Poyser, Bene’t Coldstream, and Roger Langford), the choir brought off Quoniam tu solus, Et incarnatus est, and the Sanctus particularly well. A fine Anglo-Welsh collaboration indeed.