Review of Milngavie Choir Christmas Concert 2005

Review of our Christmas Concert 2005, by Kate Longworth, printed in the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald.

For anyone who loves Christmas concerts the one in Milngavie Town Hall on Saturday 17th December was a real treat.  It was the fourth time that Milngavie Choir had joined forces with Dunbartonshire Concert Band to produce an evening of sheer delight. 

Milngavie Choir, (which celebrates its 30th year in 2006) was directed by Renton Thomson with all his usual enthusiastic wit, vivacity and entertaining anecdotes.  He had chosen a beautifully balanced selection of carols and Christmas songs to appeal to all ages and states of mind, from the traditional to the modern.  The choir moved effortlessly from the gentle and thought-provoking to the frivolous - from JS Bach and John Rutter to Frostie the Snowman and Jingle Bells.   For the most part they were accompanied, either by Maria Manias at the piano, or by Dunbartonshire Concert Band.

Dunbartonshire Concert Band (established in 1973) was conducted by its musical director,  Robert Baxter, a well-known freelance trumpeter.  As well as accompanying some of the carols, the band played a number of works in a  programme  well designed to complement the mood set by the choir.  From a beautiful rendition of Shenandoah to the Strauss Hunting Polka and the very popular Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson, the band also played  the lesser known Sandpaper Ballet (another of Leroy Anderson's).  A trumpeter from the band, Peter Longworth, also played a solo with the choir in Sally Albrecht's Let the Earth Resound. And at this time of year, of course, no concert would be complete without Irving Berlin's I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

It was a cold night, but the concert was, as usual, a sell-out, and the audience was soon warmed by the atmosphere, by their own singing, and by the refreshments provided by volunteers from St Margaret's Hospice.  Altogether an evening to remember, and I'm sure many of the audience will be there for the 2006 Christmas concert.