Auckland Choral's War and Peace opened dramatically. After an orchestral tune-up, it was organist John Wells who launched this Anzac Day commemoration of the Great War.
The stage was flooded in red light for Bach's great D minor Toccata and Fugue. The toccata was a fiery flourish; its fugue, immaculately voiced, drew effective and sometimes unexpected colours from the instrument.
The first choral offering was a Requiem by Michael Renhart, who moved to New Zealand from Germany in 1977.
One could sense the deep respect that conductor Uwe Grodd has for this ambitious score and, despite a few too many dry fugal moments, it was thought-provoking to hear a Dies Irae free of fire and brimstone.
Nothing, however, eclipsed Morag Atchison soaring over Renhart's opening pages, or the soprano's sensitive duet work, later on, with tenor Derek Hill.
