Last night we went downtown to hear a Christmas concert at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, sung by the English Baroque Choir with brass. We arrived at Trafalgar Square to the sight of a huge Christmas tree towering over the fountains, and a small outdoor stage with a silent choir doing sign language to pre-recorded Christmas songs. Since I bought the tickets to our concert so late the only seats that were left were those with no view of the performance area - a novel concept for us. It turns out all it means is that St-Martin-in-the-Fields has very high-backed pews in the upper level, meaning that unless you are abnormally tall there is no way to see over them to the pulpit below. But the concert was fun nonetheless with lots of familiar choral pieces - Victoria's O Magnum Mysterium, Bach's Jauchzet Frohlocket with the always slightly demented sounding (to me anyway) brass accompaniment, and Sweelinck's Hodie Christus Natus Est. There were also sing-along carols with the audience, which I sang along to with some gusto despite not having shelled out the 1.50 to buy a program with the words (this seems to be an English concert and show tradition - programs are always extra). At one point we were ready to jump into sing along to O Little Town of Bethlehem when we realized that the tune they were singing was absolutely nothing like the one we are familiar with. I thought about how remarkable it is that in some ways our traditions in Canada are so similar - the same verses to songs like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Hark the Herald Angels Sing, yet other (we thought) familiar pieces are totally different.
On a weather-related note, there is no snow here in London at the moment and the weather has warmed up quite a bit so it's not feeling much like Christmas time from that perspective. We are both looking forward to a bit of a holiday, and next week is our last week of work/school. Hard to believe - time has really flown by.
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