“That sweet city with her dreaming spires,” sings the chorus in Vaughan Williams’s An Oxford Elegy. It’s all too easy to make this work, composed during the years 1947-49, sound wallowing and over sentimental to modern ears. But conductor Robert Secret carefully avoided any such temptation in his performance with the Oxford Harmonic Society. He drew a disciplined sound, and an excellent blend across the four choral parts.

Good and clear, well amplified, narration came from actor Paul Ansdell. He, too, avoided sticky sweetness – lines like: “And fostering in thy lap a heap of flowers / Pluck’d in shy fields and distant Wychwood bowers,” delivered over a wordless choral backing, are arguably quite a test.

Next up, Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. The title comes from a George Meredith poem, and an extract is inscribed on the score. As Paul Ansdell was already present, the OHS had the neat idea of asking him to read the extract, but – here comes a very minor niggle – it would have been even more effective if the music had soared straight out of the poetry, rather than there being a slight gap in between. The violin soloist in this impressionistic work was Gillian Secret, who entered gently over the Orchestra of Stowe Opera, then went on to present a quite wistful-sounding lark of increasing beauty. There were some excellent solos from orchestral players too, a pity they weren’t named in the programme.

After the interval, a complete change of gear, with a truly rousing performance of John Rutter’s Feel the Spirit. As usual with a Rutter piece, both choir and orchestra plainly relished every note and syllable contained in this selection of contrasted Negro spirituals, so much so that mezzo soloist Emma Curtis had trouble in making her words audible at times. Rutter and Vaughan Williams aren’t obvious bedfellows, but this concert was an inspired piece of programme building.