St Ann’s Church, Dublin: Bach – Cantatas 62, 61, 60, 36.

Conductor David Milne and his 40-strong chorus The Cantata Singers were guests of the Orchestra of St Cecilia at this fourth-last helping of Bach’s 200 church cantatas.

Milne’s session choir, first convened by him for a memorial concert for John Beckett in 2007, is a reincarnation of the group Beckett himself directed in his now legendary cantata series of the 1970s and early 1980s.

Seldom did Bach come closer to opera than in Cantata 60, where the usual scheme of recitatives and arias is replaced by a series of duets and trios for soloists in the roles of Fear, Hope and Christ.

With characteristic self-assurance, Alison Browner (contralto) brought a much less literal feeling to her allegorical role as Fear than the ever-lively John Elwes (tenor) brought to his as Hope.

Against Browner’s sweeping chorale melodies, Elwes’s acrobatic counterpoints yielded nothing to punctuality, incisiveness or sustaining power.

In the role of Christ, bass Jeffrey Ledwidge was vocally on the dry side and less convincing than he might have been at certain abstrusely chromatic cadences. His most settled moment arrived with a leisurely aria in Cantata 36.

Milne’s accommodating interpretations made room for some refined and coaxing woodwind obbligatos, but had their drawbacks in the odd mismatch between instrumental and vocal vision.

With an aria from Cantata 61, for example, it was all too clear that soprano soloist Lynda Lee had something rather different in mind from the introductory bars that had preceded her first entry.

Nothing, however, compromised Milne’s intentions with the choir, even if enthusiasm could momentarily get the better of accuracy or tone quality.

In particular, the mood of compulsory celebration that permeates the opening chorus of Cantata 36 depended on some daunting feats of choral agility – and the singers baulked at none of them.

The final three concerts in the series are on Sunday, Feb 14, 21 and 28