{"id":5771,"date":"2019-12-16T09:31:30","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T09:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=5771"},"modified":"2019-12-16T09:32:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T09:32:55","slug":"hastings-philharmonic-christmas-concert-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=5771","title":{"rendered":"Hastings Philharmonic Christmas Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>St Mary in the Castle, 14 December 2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A full house, a buzz of excitement and some of the best Christmas music this season \u2013 all of which we have come to expect from Hastings Philharmonic but it is none the less very welcome when the time comes round. We have also grown used to the younger members bringing us string solos before the main event begins, and so it was this year with three young violinists, concluding with an impressive reading of the sublime second movement of Bach\u2019s double violin concerto.<\/p>\n<p>Then onto the main event, diving in at the deep end with <em>God rest you merry, gentlemen<\/em> for all concerned. The choir items were arranged in small groups and focussed this year on quieter more reflective pieces, opening with the ladies voices in <em>Adam lay ybounden<\/em> and a moving <em>I wonder as I wander<\/em> in John Rutter\u2019s arrangement. After another carol for all, the Hastings Philharmonic Brass Quintett gave us a sparkling version of the <em>Sussex Carol<\/em> and a subtle arrangement of <em>Silent Night. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5773\" src=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2300\" height=\"1294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1.jpg 2300w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-1-500x281.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2300px) 100vw, 2300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The next two items brought a strong contrast between the beautifully reflective <em>O magnum Mysterium<\/em> by Morten Lauridsen and the vibrant <em>Shepherd\u2019s Pipe Carol <\/em>from John Rutter.<\/p>\n<p>After the interval and two more carols for all, the choir gave us a jolly <em>Sir Christemas<\/em> and a gentle <em>Gabriel\u2019s Message, <\/em>before the Brass Quintett returned with a baroque sounding <em>Es ist ein ros entsprungen<\/em> and an unusual arrangement of <em>The Holly and the Ivy. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Then came the moment without which it would not be a Hastings Philharmonic Christmas \u2013 Marcio da Silva singing <em>O Holy Night. <\/em>\u00a0It seems to get better and more moving every year, and long may it continue.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5774\" src=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2300\" height=\"1533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2.jpg 2300w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/HPO-xmas-19-2-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2300px) 100vw, 2300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The guest children\u2019s choir this year were from Christ Church Primary School who sang Jay Althouse\u2019 <em>In December<\/em> and Jonathan Dove\u2019s <em>Snow. <\/em>\u00a0Both of these were probably unfamiliar to the majority of the audience and a fine addition to the Christmas repertoire. They concluded with a rousing <em>Jingle Bells<\/em> before we all joined in <em>Away in a Manger.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The final item from the choir reflected the note of intimacy which pervaded this year\u2019s concert with <em>A maiden most gentle<\/em> before we all came together to sing <em>O come all ye faithful.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The atmosphere in St Mary\u2019s was certainly very warm and we understand that it will be even warmer soon as the money has been raised to replace the boilers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St Mary in the Castle, 14 December 2019 A full house, a buzz of excitement and some of the best Christmas music this season \u2013 all of which we have come to expect from Hastings Philharmonic but it is none &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=5771\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5771"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5776,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5771\/revisions\/5776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}