CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 545, 24 December 1928, Page 16

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

BAPTIST TABERNACLE CHOIR A DELIGHTFUL PROGRAMME A delightful festival of Christmas music was given by the choir of the Baptist Tabernacle on Saturday evening. As well as the large crowd at the Tabernacle radio listeners-in were able to enjoy the music, the evening’s programme being broadcast. The service opened with a hymn and prayer by the Rev. J. W. Kemp, the programme proper following. The first item was Adam’s “O Holy Night,” by the full choir, followed £>y Jude’s “The Birthday Carol,” an arrangement of “Christians Awake,” sung by the male cljoir. The women’s choair sang “I Hear Along the Street,” by Hatton, the English composer. Ketelby’s, “A Dream of Christmas." a descriptive number, received a fine reading, the theme being clearly outlined. An encore was demanded. Two carols, “As I Sat on a Sunny Bank.” and “Deck the Hall,” also received fine treatment. Miss Doreen Logan sang as a solo “Christmas Eve.” The first part of the programme concluded with a piano and organ duo by Mrs. T. Brame Clark and Mr Arthur E. Wilson, a piece which had to be repeated, to satisfy the listeners. The second part was taken up by J. H. Maunders’s Christmas cantata, “Bethlehem.” This piece is divided into three part. Part one, “The Shepherds’ Gifts”; part two, “The King’s Gifts”; and part three, “Our Gifts.” It is a story of the angels appearing with their message of goodwill to the shepherds on the starlit plains, and of the three kings going to the new King with their gifts. The mother is heard singing to her little son, and the cantata concludes with an appeal. At the conclusion of each part the congregation joined the choir in singing a hymn, the final part concluding with “O, Come, All Ye Faithful.” The soloists' were Mrs. N. Halsey Cox, Mrs. J. Litherland, Mrs. C. Turley, Mr. Clinton Williams, Mr. C. Turley, Mr. D. G. College and Mr. H. Reynolds. The choirmaster, Mr. Arthur E. Wilson, is to be congratulated on the way the programme was submitted.