Concert

Ancient and Modern

Saturday 17 June 2023, 7:30 pm

St John the Evangelist Church, Iffley Road, Oxford

J.S. Bach, Komm, Jesu, Komm, D. Scarlatti, Stabat Mater, and Vaughan Wiliams, Mass in G

Generations of composers have long been entranced by the beauties of the old polyphonic style perfected by the likes of Palestrina. The OBC’s summer concert showcases three great works whose composers tried to recreate that old style, but each ended up saying something quite new and special in their own way. Thus J. S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, in the eighteenth century, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, recently back from the trenches of the First World War, each looked backwards, but each created something new and utterly characteristic. These pieces will sound especially fine in the magnificent acoustic of St. John the Evangelist.