It's Bridgemas Eve! Celebrating with another track from 'A Pembroke Christmas': Adrian Peacock’s Venite, gaudete! starts with a single line singing an ostinato which gradually expands and intensifies, paving the way for some thrilling double-choir writing. We first sang this piece for our 2021 Advent carol service; the choir was excited to sing this piece with a congregation present as we had been particularly enjoying getting to grips with it in the rehearsals over the previous couple of weeks. As is so often the case in live music, though, things didn’t go entirely to plan. I had given the choir strict instructions to sound as menacing as possible; this clearly worked because as the piece started to really get going, a baby started crying, becoming increasingly vocal through to the end of the piece, much to the amusement of everyone in the chapel.
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