Essex Classical Christmas Concert in Hornchurch

Essex Classical Christmas Concert in Hornchurch РOn Wednesday we returned to Langtons House in Hornchurch, Essex to give an evening concert of Christmas string quartet music, based on our two albums, entitled ‘I Saw Three Ships and Other Carols’ and ‘It Came Upon the Midnight Clear and other carols’. We first played here two years ago and had such a warm response from the audience that we were greatly looking forward to this year’s performance.

We began with the beautiful Basque carol ‚ÄòThe Angel Gabriel From heaven Came‚Äô (also known as ‚ÄòGabriel‚Äôs Message‚Äô) and continued with ‚ÄòJoy To the World‚Äô and ‚ÄòIl Est Ne le Divin Enfant‚Äô. In between these, we performed the wonderfully uplifting ‚ÄòRejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion‚Äô from Handel‚Äôs ‚ÄòMessiah‚Äô. Here is another piece from Handel’s ‘Messiah’, the ‘Pastoral Symphony’:

During the interval I had an opportunity to get to know the audience better and it was interesting to hear which carols they particularly enjoyed. We then opened the second half with an abridged version of Leopold Mozart’s ‘Die Schlittenfahrt’ (‘The Sleighride’). This was accompanied by a sleighbell which the audience passed around. There was also audience participation during our two encores. ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ was splendidly sung and they showed equal adeptness during the ‘Radetzky March’, accompanying it with rhythmic clapping and party poppers!

At the end, the audience were in a very festive mood and left the hall in high spirits and with smiles on their faces!