Often confused with perspiration, bed-fellow to imagination, and at its best - revelation. When it comes to Bach, you have to include inhalation and perspiration too ofcourse, he’s wonderful to listen to, but a challenge to sing. VentiQuattro's concert in Bloxham on Sunday is enjoying a romp through those who inspired Bach and some of his finest motets.

This is quite simply a look at ‘the water he swam in’. From early music gems to renaissance classics - he imbibed them all, and reflected them in his own works, especially Jesu Meine Freude, Ich Lasse Dich, and Lobet - three of his most masterful motets.

He will have known von Bingen over on the Rhein, for example, an early music genius famous for her atmospheric Ave Generosa.

Undoubtedly he loved Palestrina, born 500 years ago, and his Exultate echoes in Bach’s ability to bounce a cappella pieces joyfully. Monteverdi’s Cantate similarly captures the quest for singing in a new way that Bach mastered. Revenge perhaps here too for singers imitating instruments when the main criticism of Bach is that he often wrote for voices as if they were instruments.

Bach’s genius included an ability to make less = more. There are several examples in Ich Lasse Dich, Lobet (the Alleluia is spot on), and Jesu Meine Freude is choc full of examples. He learned from Tallis (If Ye Love Me is simplicity personified), and Lotti’s Crucifixus, while for 8 singers, achieves truth and beauty far beyond the sum of its parts.

We'd be mad not to at least nod to the impact Bach had on others too, and our concerts later this year will focus on those he inspired in his turn (Brahms, Bruckner, Stanford, Gorecki, and MacMillan to name a few).

But we'll have some fun tackling Toch’s tongue twister - the Geographical Fugue - running from Popokatepetl to Brindisi and Trinidad. Not quite the D Minor Toccata and Fugue, but every bit as much fun for an unaccompanied choir - and a nod to the second part of our tribute this year to Bach and the motet genre.

Join us from 5pm in Bloxham St Mary's on Sunday, 8 June for a friendly '24' welcome - tickets available on the door (from 4.30pm). Prices include a free bar throughout (from Naked Wines). 24's enthusiastic renditions are now famous and not to be missed.