Music / “Christmas Classics”. At Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, December 16, repeated December 18. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.

THE third annual edition of the mini music festival, “A Luminous Christmas”, presented by Wesley, Luminescence and Canberra International Music Festival began last night (December 16) at Wesley Church with the musical equivalent of a perfectly-cooked Christmas pudding.

Concocted by master chefs AJ America, directing the Luminescence Children’s Choir, and Roland Peelman, directing both adult and child Luminescence choristers, it contained all the essential ingredients – fruits both exotic and homely, the binding flour of voices fine-tuned by long hours of practice – and a dash of spice in the forum of James’ Porteous’ organ-playing.

The exotic fruits came in the form of Steven Stucky’s arrangement of the Polish lullaby, “Lulajze Jezuniu” (Sleep Baby Jesus) and the Ukrainian New Year’s song, “Shchedryk” set by Leontovych, with the more familiar fruits in Elizabeth Poston’s setting of “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree” and Peelman’s setting of “The Cherry Tree Carol”.

There was also, quite literally, a song about bread, “Panis Angelicus” (bread of angels) in Cesar Frank’s setting of a song by Saint Thomas Aquinas.

This was a musical pudding both sweet and varied, beginning with America conducting the children ever so gently  in a series of quiet carols interspersed with a robust rendition of a scary sailor’s song popular with French children.

The chorus hit its straps with Britten’s exquisite Corpus Christi Carol before, now conducted by Peelman beating a hand-drum, the adult Luminescence Chamber Singers joined in the rousing “Orientis Partibus,” traditionally associated with the European Feast of Fools.

The second half of the evening began with an augmented choir singing “Veni Veni Emmanuel” in an arrangement by Kodaly made richer with overlapping phrasing. This  brought new life to the favourite advent hymn so popular that some in the audience were singing along in the background.

But this concert, though replete with rarefied delights, had elements of the popular, such as in Jonathan Rathbone’s carol medley that included the more secular “Deck The Halls”, “I Saw Three Ships” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”.

The evening concluded with a little audience participation in a mighty explosion of “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” and “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing”, followed by a quiet, moving rendition of “Silent Night”, where the glorious voices of the children’s choir wafted down from the rafters to delight our ears.

A postscript. Three cheers for the extensive printed program, full of fascinating information about all the hymns and carols.

The festival continues at 5pm today, December 17 with “An Italian Christmas” and tomorrow (December 18) at 3pm with Christmas in Ukraine and at 6pm with a repeat of “Christmas Classics”.