How lovely are the messengers by Mendelssohn holds the key to our concert, combining messages about the Second Coming and celebration. It sits halfway along the line of 430 festive seasons separating the earliest from the most recently-written music in our programme. The Second Coming message is beautifully expressed in William Byrd’s ‘Laetantur Coeli’ (1589), which begins our concert. At the other end of our chronology, John Merrick’s setting of Carol Ann Duffy’s The Bee Carol (2017) makes a connection between the winter behaviour of bees as they cluster around the queen that will sustain their existence, and the “trembling” light from stars announcing the holy birth.
We celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Holst with his arrangement Long ago, prophets knew and the carol Lullay my Liking. From Central and Eastern Europe we have Kodály’s ‘O come, o come, Emmanuel’ (1943), Arvo Pärt’s rhythmic Bogoroditsye Dyevo (1990) and the traditional Appalachian carol I wonder as I wander by Swiss composer Carl Rütti.
We conclude with Benedicamus Domino by the choir’s President Ian Schofield.
The remainder of the programme draws on the Anthology Advent for Choirs, including Philip Ledger’s Adam lay ybounden, Stanford’s Benedictus in C and the anonymous 16th century anthem Rejoice in the Lord alway.
The United Reformed Church in Havant has a warm and friendly interior with fine acoustics: with mulled wine and mince pies in the interval this will be the perfect way to progress your festive season.
