Christmas music that doesn’t suck #7: Pinkham
In honor of tomorrow’s concert at St. James Cathedral, I’m posting (like yesterday) a piece we’ll be doing.
This is at least the second time I’ve done Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata, but I can’t remember where I did it before. Boston? Paris? Maybe my first church in NY (the one that fired me), as I recall the director had been a student of Pinkham’s.
Anyway, it has three movements and they are really great, and there is brass. The Gloria (3rd movement) is probably the best-known. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a professional recording of it on YouTube, but at least this one has a nice tempo.
The cool thing about this movement is the way the refrain is so catchy and traditional sounding, then the verses kind of come out of nowhere. Also cool is the brass during the last round of Glorias. They are pretty held back until then.
Hope to see some of you tomorrow night at St. James!
