The young Benjamin Britten, as a student at the Royal College of Music, composed settings for two Psalms. Composer Frank Bridge, who was Britten’s mentor, admired them but at the time the music was too demanding for the chorus at the RCM. Both pieces remained unperformed until the opening concert of the Britten in Oxford centenary festival on Saturday, at the Sheldonian Theatre.

The style of the psalms is confident, very much of the period and decidedly English in character. The setting of Psalm 130 includes some dense writing, with anguished lamentations in the opening section. Psalm 150 is celebratory. It opens in clear declaratory style, followed by a contrapuntal section. The mention of various instruments in the text prompts Britten to deploy harp, pipes, trumpets and cymbals to great effect. Walton is a notable influence in this piece.

The concert also featured two lesser known works by Britten: Ballad of Heroes and The Building of the House. The first of these was written in 1939 in the shadow of war. The sense of menace in the music is palpable: marching rhythms, snare drums, blaring brass. The Building of the House, written in 1967 to commemorate the opening of Snape Maltings, is a happier piece, full of bustling strings and hammering percussion. Three composers Britten admired made up the rest of the programme. Beethoven’s overture Coriolan opened the evening, while Britten’s arrangement of the second movement of Mahler’s Third Symphony and finally Poulenc’s Gloria concluded the concert. The soprano Elizabeth Atherton deserves special praise for the gravitas she brought to Psalm 130, Ballad of Heroes and especially to the Poulenc. Conductor Nick Cleobury’s impeccable direction was evident throughout. There was a level of seriousness in the Poulenc I have missed in other performances.

The Oxford Bach Choir and the English Chamber Orchestra were on top form.