IT IS a debate as old as the hills: should music be accessible to all regardless of how knowledgable people are of it, or is it absolutely a matter of choice what each individual likes? And, in an effort to please every "musical taste" under the sun does it matter if concert organisers put Bach and My Heart Will Go On in the same concert?

No, it does not matter, neccesarily. If you are a fan of Radio Four's Desert Island Discs, diversity and very well-known music may well be your game. If it is your game, this Saturday night concert at Worcester Cathedral would have been for you.

Personally, I could not help notice that this event was unlike the bulk of events that take place at the cathedral though, so to not point out this conspicious attribute would be odd indeed.

There was material that the Worcester Male Voice Choir has been singing for a some time and curiously still sounds fresh. The Eric Jones-arranged African Prayer and the Bryan Davies-arranged Where Shall I Be was as energetic as Mozart's Alleluia (from Exultate, Jubilate) that came from Soprano soloist Claire Bessent.

Any concerns that audience members might have had about there being too many voices were soon laid to rest. The massed choirs involving Birmingham Icknield MVC, Churchdown MVC, Cradley MVC, Forest of Dean MVC, Gentlemen Songsters MVC, Solihull MVC, Warley MVC as well as hosts Worcester MVC managed to adjust to the cathedral acoustic under Nicholas Wright's direction. The piano accompaniment did admittedly sound resonant which was due to the acoustic rather than pianist Sheila Leatherland's execution on the instrument.

The Holborne Brass provided some lively music as an interlude to the male voices with some more well-known material.

So was this event hackneyed, populist and demotic? Well, perhaps some populist material is as neccessary as the eight records to take to a desert island. You would have to be a very stern critic to complain about the music in this concert without remembering that if populist material is ok on Desert Island Discs, why cannot it be okay at a cathedral concert?