The day after

My choir sang a Christmas concert yesterday, and I am unalloyedly proud of them, they did so bravely and well.  It was an ambitious program for them, but their hearts remained strong, and they stayed with me.  Certainly there was the occasional mistake, but overall they carried the program;  and we had a large and thoroughly appreciative audience.

Put thus succinctly, it’s going to give the impression that the concert was The Karl Henning Show, but in fact I was complimented by many for the balance and mix of the program . . . the Henningmusick on the concert was:

Le tombeau de W.A.G., Op.122 (original version for low brass trio, and a première)
The Allegro grazioso closing section of the Sinfonietta, Op.38 (brass quintet)
In the shadow of the kindly Star, Op.126 № 2 (violin solo and handbells, première)
Musette, Op.118 № 7 (handbells)
Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, Op.67 (choir, brass quintet & organ, première of the piece in its entirety)
The Snow Lay on the Ground, Op.68b (children’s choir, mixed choir, handbells, violin solo & organ, première of this version)

Anne Bennett (also an alto in my choir) is the director of the children’s choir, and they did smashingly.  In fact, they stole the show (earlier in the program than my Op.68b, they had a set of three numbers they sang on their own).  Rachel Wimmer stood out for her lovely violin playing. The handbells were of course a hit, as well.  And the brass (although there was the odd clam or missed note – they’ve had a lot of music to blow this weekend) did splendidly;  and they all warmly complimented the composer.

Even with the imperfections of execution, I am elated to have brought the Op.67 to an audience (and to so large an audience!) at last.

The church in Wayland is also doing The Snow Lay on the Ground, though I do not know just when.

I haven't checked the audio, but I had a go at recording the entire concert.

Followers of The Henningmusick Chronicles know both, that my Micro Track recorder runs only about half an hour on a fully charged battery, and that the outlets at HTUMC are not grounded, so that it's worthless trying to use the Micro Track plugged into those outlets.

Although this possibility was not in my mind when I initially ordered the Jackery® portable charger (I was simply thinking about maintaining the charge for the cell phone), I had the happy thought (or, I hope the result affirms the happiness of the thought) that I might try running the Micro Track, with the power cord plugged into the J.® p. ch.

In all events, Charles also recorded the entire concert.  So with luck, we shall have two documents of the concert.