It may have felt like a spring evening on Tuesday outside Carnegie Hall, but inside the Collegiate Chorale was definitely in the Christmas spirit. Along with the protean Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the venerable chorus presented one-half of the “Christmas Oratorio” of Johann Sebastian Bach. Given the highquality performance, it was doubtful any patron felt shortchanged by the lack of completeness.

The work at issue is really a grouping of six cantatas written by Bach in 1734, which happened to coincide with a December 25th starting date. Although their common subject is the Nativity, it is not necessary nor historically accurate to present all six as a complete work. My last encounter with these pieces was at Avery Fisher Hall in 2000, when Leipziger Kurt Masur handed off his New York Philharmonic to Georg Christoph Biller, choral director of the Thomaskirche, where Bach himself was in service. On that occasion, they also presented only the first three cantatas.

Bach’s works for the chorus of that church are decidedly interchangeable, even modular, and he wrote more than twice as many cantatas as have survived. If “old Bach” were alive today, he would be amazed that any of his quotidian pieces were still being performed. He thought of them simply as another set of assignments for his choirboys, and, under pressure to create a new cantata for every Sunday service, he became a master recycler: Even such a cursory survey as three pieces for Christmas reveals a creative reprise schedule for several individual chorale melodies.

Though St. Luke’s may have been hired as the backup band, it was a major element in this concert’s success. Beginning with the distinctive kettledrum opening introducing “Jauchzet, frohlocket,” the ensemble provided a rugged, somewhat spare sound — perfect for evoking the original acoustical hue of these pieces that still owe a lot to their medieval forebears. The oft-excerpted “Sinfonia” from the second cantata was splendid, flowing freely as a beautiful, stand-alone pastorale.

But the Collegiate Chorale, founded in 1941 by Robert Shaw, held its own. It is a large group with a triumphant sound, expert blending, and a rock solid history of consistency and dedication. Most of its musicians are amateurs in the best sense of the word.

Also on hand were four competent soloists with much to do. Tenor Paul Austin Kelly sang the Evangelist and so had a lot of recitative to master. He has a sweet voice with a secure top line and opted for the gentlest possible introductions to the brief snapshots of the early, scene-setting moments of the Nativity — although the music did not seem cut short, the story ended rather abruptly in this halved version. When called upon to sing solo, as in the aria “Frohe Hirten, eilt,” with flute obbligato, Mr. Kelly floated nicely, albeit without a great deal of heft.

More satisfying was the baritonal side of bass-baritone James Maddalena, who was quite powerful in the martial aria “Grosser Herr, o starker Koenig,” accompanied by high B flat trumpet. Here we got a glimpse into Bach’s sonic world of tone painting, a finely tuned sense of instrumental and vocal coloration that made his music so profoundly affecting, and a reference to his stylistic assignations so forcefully employed in the Passions.

As the angel, as well as in her later duet with Mr. Maddalena in the third cantata, soprano Lisa Saffer was a model of pitch control, combining her pure instrument with the oboes, bassoon and stringed bass. Alto Gigi Mitchell-Velasco possesses a rich lower register and intoned the highlight of the evening, a sensitive “Schliesse, mein Herze, dies selige Wunder” in tandem with St. Luke’s concertmistress Krista Bennion Feeney.

After intermission, the group presented various Christmas carols and songs, including “Deck the Halls,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,”and “The First Nowell” in arrangements by Mr. Shaw and Robert Russell Bennett. Director Robert Bass urged the participation of the audience, which was a good idea. Since the crowd was a noisy bunch from the beginning, it might as well have been put to work.