Elgar himself conducted the Oxford Bach Choir's first performance of his relatively new oratorio The Kingdom, in 1911, and Saturday night was only their fourth performance in almost 100 years, as part of the Elgar 150th birthday celebrations.

The reason is not hard to see; it is a huge work, demanding a full symphony orchestra; in this case more than 80 players, four soloists and a very large choir - more than 150 voices. The music is so demanding that extra rehearsals needed to be scheduled, with a huge cost resulting. Not an undertaking for the faint-hearted, but the effort was all worth it.

From the first chords of the opening orchestral Prelude, it was clear that the players were in total empathy with this intense and often visceral music. In the first scene, the choir is established as the Disciples and the Holy Women, in the upper room, following the Ascension of Jesus in the Bible story.

The soloists take the parts of Peter, John and the two Marys and they recite the events from the Last Supper, through the Pentecost, to the plans for the early Christian church, with a few flashbacks to the jolly times of Jesus' miracles. With such an enormous amount of narrative, the pace is fast and the requirement for musical inventiveness almost endless.

Conductor Nicholas Cleobury loved every bar of this music and his enthusiasm was almost overwhelming as he elicited a non-stop stream of nuance and subtlety from soloists, choir and orchestra.

The choir was in excellent form, utterly convincing in the mystery of the speaking-in-tongues scene and warm and reassuring in the closing thanks and prayers.

Soprano Elizabeth Watts and alto Louise Winter were stunning in their duet At the Beautiful Gate, while tenor Allan Clayton and bass-baritone Peter Savidge were so powerful in their duet Turn Ye Again, that even a fortissimo orchestra could not dent their message.

This terrifically uplifting concert was preceded by a 20-minute performance of The Holiday, inspired by Elgar's The Kingdom, written over just four days and performed by the children of St Gregory the Great and Cherwell Schools as a project with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Oxford Bach Choir. The highly entertaining and resourceful piece with improvisation as well as scribed music for 14 players and a small choir, left us assured that the great British choral singing tradition is going to last well into the next generation.

Catherine Side