Amor Artis, Orchestra of St Cecilia/Johannes Somary

Water Music Suite - Handel Mass in C - Schubert Te Deum - Haydn Ave verum corpus

- Mozart Magnificat - BachSwiss-born Johannes Somary is probably best known in this part of the world as the conductor of choral recordings of major works by

Handel, Bach and Mozart, which he recorded in the early 1970s.

Somary, now in his early sixties, is also active as organist and composer and is based in the US, where he founded the choir, Amor Artis. This group, now in its 35th season, opened its three-concert Irish tour with the Orchestra of St

Cecilia at St Patrick's Cathedral on Monday.

The programme began with a suite from Handel's Water Music, played in a style that was generally light and airy. The only contrary note was struck in the slowest movement, where the embellishments of the oboe line quite lost contact with the contour of the original melody.

Schubert's Mass in C was given with a small chorus of less than 20 voices in the scoring for strings only. The effect was undeniably ethereal but, in spite of the clear focus of the choral singing, not always persuasive. The contribution of the solo soprano, Arlene Travis, however, stood out as effortlessly flowing and shapely.

The best music-making was saved for the second half. Here, in Bach's great

Magnificat, even if ensemble with the orchestra was not always tight, the impressive agility of the choir was never in doubt and there were strong solo contributions from alto Megan Friar and tenor Thom Baker.