ADVENT is the time for wake-up calls and they don’t come more emphatic than in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

Peter Seymour and his massed cohorts sensibly confined themselves on Wednesday to the first, third and sixth of its six cantatas – where most of the juiciest bits are to be found.

You can often tell how seriously a choir is taking itself by the quality of the soloists. Here we also had the powerful lure of the Royal Northern Sinfonia. It acquitted itself admirably; soloists were typically deft and fluent, the whole ensemble providing invaluable rhythmic punch.

Two of the four vocal soloists were late replacements. Joshua Ellicott made a persuasive Evangelist, alive to verbal nuance and atmosphere; his only aria was equally fine, alongside succulent oboes d’amore. Bethany Seymour began nervously, unable to sustain her soprano chorale lines in a single breath. Thereafter she settled down and duetted neatly in Part 3.

Peter Harvey brought firm tone and terrific commitment to the bass arias, notably Grosse Herr in tandem with Richard Martin’s gleaming trumpet. He might try to dump the sack of potatoes he often seems to be lugging uphill. Another highlight was Kitty Whateley’s rich mezzo in Schliesse, Mein Herze (with shapely violin from Kyra Humphreys), though she needs to watch fall-off in resonance in her lower range.

The choir covered the ground competently though not as incisively as usual. The sopranos lacked cutting-edge at the top, and 16 tenors were not enough in a choir of 235 voices. One could hope for more killer instinct from the altos. But the basses supplied a buoyant foundation. They woke us up.