Auckland Choral at Somervell Presbyterian Church

Saturday evening was time to get up close and personal with Auckland Choral.

Deep in the heart of Remuera was the city's biggest and oldest choir, just eight rows ahead and prepared to deliver the heft that one might expect from 100-plus voices.

The programme had been carefully designed to engage its audience and, for many, John Rutter's Mass of the Children would have been hugely attractive.

An intelligent mix of the Latin liturgy and various English poetry, this Mass was at its most effective when the Auckland Girls' Choir opened the Kyrie with Thomas Ken's "Awake my soul".

Musically, there was much to enjoy - a sprightly instrumental ensemble; exemplary singing from choristers, young and older; the bright-voiced soprano of Emma Roxburgh alongside the thoughtful contributions of baritone Martin Elliott; not to forget Peter Watts' conducting expertise.

My problem - and it is a personal one - lay with Rutter's idiom which descended too often into the sugary and kitsch; indeed the Kyrie eleison wound up like a play-out of a soul song.

When a more intriguing atmosphere was evoked in the Agnus Dei, this too eventually gave way to an easy-listening rendition of Blake's Little Lamb.

The Girls' Choir under Leonie Lawson showed exceptional musicality, with strong focused singing and crisp diction that made one shudder at the unctuous messages of Carl Strommen's "Like an Eagle" and Don Besig's "Take these wings".

John Tavener's Song for Athene had Auckland Choral displaying its dynamic range, bursting to full jubilation in the final lines, "Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you."

Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs saw Martin Elliott approaching George Herbert's poetry with a rare intelligence and attention to phrasing, even if a certain tentativeness lessened the impact of "Love bade me welcome".

Organist John Wells, whose registrations had been spot-on throughout the evening, let gloriously loose in Vaughan Williams' final Antiphon while the exuberant choir came forth with "Let all the world in every corner sing."

This programme may not quite make it around the globe, but it is well worth catching this weekend in Henderson or Takapuna.