I sang in two carol services for the latter part of the Christmas season, both of which brought new repertoire with them.
First was Bath Abbey’s now annual Epiphany carol service. Among more standard pieces, we did Palestrina’s setting of Tribus Miraculis as an alternative to the more usual Marenzio, and Richard Allain’s Cana’s guest. The only previous music by Allain I’ve sung is his spiritual arrangements. Cana’s guest is a succinct piece, with some subtle symbolism worked into it.
Other music we sang included Elgar’s The Spirit of the Lord (well known to many in the choir after singing it at ordinations), No small wonder by Paul Edwards and Warlock’s Bethlehem Down.
January is a quiet month for singing, but later on I sang a couple of evensongs, the most notable music being my first encounter with Grayston Ives’ evening canticles in D.