Archive for December, 2011
Wedding at Carey’s Manor, New Forest
On Wednesday 28th december we played for a wedding at Carey’s Manor, which is situated near Lyndhurst in Hampshire. It’s always a pleasure to play for special occasions which take place around Christmas time, as there is often a unique atmosphere which this time of the year generates. This wedding was no exception with an [...]
Boxing Day Concert - St Martin in the Fields
On Boxing Day, we were delighted to be invited to perform in one of London’s finest Churches for classical music - St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square. The concert was held at lunchtime, with free entrance and donations to the many good causes supported by St Martin’s.
Having a concert of Christmas carols arranged for string [...]
Wedding at South Farm, Cambridgeshire
Last Wednesday we travelled up to South Farm on the borders of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. It is a working farm with some wonderful rooms for the wedding ceremony and breakfast - ideal for winter weddings where the days are short and cold.
The venue is also perfect for a string duo and during the wedding itself we set up at [...]
Wedding at the Walled Garden, Midhurst
On Saturday 17th December we played for a wedding at the Walled Garden near Midhurst in Hampshire. It is a lovely location with a ruined castle as well as a courtyard area with buildings perfectly suited for a drinks reception and wedding breakfast.
We started playing in an open room where drinks and canapes were being [...]
Concerts in Fakenham and Norwich
Just over a week ago, the quartet went on a mini ‘tour’ with four concerts in three days, including two on the same day in Norfolk (you can read about the other two in Cheddington and Cuddington in separate blogs). One (a matinee) was in Fakenham Methodist Church and the other was for the Norfolk and Norwich [...]
Noel Nouvelet
The final track on our album It Came Upon The Midnight Clear and other carols is the ancient French piece, ‘Noel Nouvelet’. Like many traditional melodies it has a complicated history that means there are a variety of sources, largely inconsistent. This in no way detracts from the majestic power of this melody which made it [...]
Don Oiche Ud I Mbeithil
This ancient Irish carol is loosely translated from its original Gaelic as ‘That Night in Bethlehem’. The words tell the nativity story - speaking of the events on the night of Jesus’s birth and end with a message of peace from the angels. In Ireland, there remains a tradition of leaving a lit candle in [...]
O Little Town of Bethlehem
No Christmas album would have been complete without including one of the most memorable English carols ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’. The original melody is often known as ‘Forest Green’ as Ralph Vaughan Williams collected the tune ‘The Ploughboy’s Dream’ in 1903 from a Mr. Garman of Forest Green in Surrey. The words added to the melody were [...]
The Sans Day Carol
This carol is another instance of a melody (which may have been in existence for many centuries) being collected and notated and thereafter becoming well known across the world. It owes it’s name to the Cornish village of St. Day (pronounced in Cornish as Sans Day) which itself was named after a Breton Saint. The [...]
To Drive The Cold Winter Away…
This wonderfully evocative melody is also known as ‘In Praise of Christmas’ or ‘The Praise of Christmas’. A version of this song dating from the early 17th century has the interesting title of ’A Pleasant Country New Ditty: Merrily Shewing How to Drive the Cold Winter Away’. The song is also included in that classic collection of folk [...]
