Xmas 2005
by berberis on Dec.17, 2005, under Choir, Concerts, LCS, Rehearsals
Saturday, 17th December 2005, St Mary’s Church, Lewisham.
Magnificat – Paul Patterson
Carols for choir and audience: Once in Royal David’s City/O Magnum Mysterium (Gabrieli)/The Cherry Tree Carol/Of the Father’s Heart Begotten/Hodie Christus Natus Est/Stille Nacht/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Here We Come A-wassailing/While Shepherds Watched/The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Conducted by Stefan Reid and Andrew Dutson
Accompanied by The Aurelian Ensemble
Trumpets: Alex Cromwell, Dom Field, Giles Liddiard, Ruth Woodhams
Trombones: Lewis Edney, Robb Tooley, Robert Workman
Tuba: Simon Roberts
Timpani and percussion: Sacha Johnson, Emily Morris
The opening piece was Magnificat (Opus 75, 1993) by Paul Patterson.
The last Magnificat we sang was by Cecilia McDowall, and I’m afraid that – for me – both that and this work by Paul Patterson suffer from the same thing: trying too hard. For this Magnificat, it was the the trumpets, the syncopation, the tambourine, the lack of any identfiable melody, the overall twee-ness. None of this is the fault of the composer or the musicians – the tingle factor was, for me, competely absent. So it was a good thing we sang it first to get it out of the way, leaving the carols for the much more traditional, and peronsally enjoyable, second half.
