Midwinter In Mid-Autumn

Our Christmas repertoire is saccharine sweet. There is nothing wrong with that per se, and I am very fond of cheesiness, but by the time we get to the end of rehearsals I have toothache from the schmaltz. Case in point, the two songs we rehearsed yesterday. The first is Midwinter, but not the Holst version which everyone is better acquainted with. No, we are doing the modern Chilcott arrangement as suggessted by Ben L. It has lush harmonies and sounds wonderful - making me think of hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows. Even with the difficult mid-section for the tenors, all I want to do is wrap up in a warm fleece and pet a reindeer.

Nothing, however, can compare to the stilton-fest which is Merry Christmas, Darling. As Simon W noted, the phrase "Merry Christmas, Darling" doesn't actually come until the very end of the song, but that doesn't stop the song, in true Carpenters fashion, from laying on the emotional manipulation thickly right from the first note. Love it!

With just two or three more songs left to learn (I think they are the Christmas Medley and Rocking Around The Christmas Tree) Mladen has set us the task of memorizing the two songs we rehearsed this week for next week. Looks like it is nose to the grindstone/ sheet music then!