Pimm’s no. 3

That’s the ‘winter’ one, based on brandy. It was served (mixed with apple juice and warm) after our Advent carol service – the first time I’d tried it.

But I should be writing about music. We sang a mixture of standards (the Palestrina Matin Responsory), 20th-century pieces (Holst’s Ave Maria and Richard Lloyd’s setting of the Advent Prose) and newly edited Renaissance music (Canite Tuba by Guerrero and Gaudete omnes et lætamini by Sweelinck). These last two were new to me (as was the Lloyd), and are examples of the way the repertoire is expanding thanks to Handlo Music, the Choral Public Domain Library and similar outfits which make it easily available. I sang the Holst with the Exultate Singers a couple of years ago, doing the other 2nd choir soprano part (which explains why I keep being tempted to sing it).