The Pops Christmas season is upon us. Last night I sang the opening night performance for the Boston Pops Christmas concerts. It’s a fun concert as always, even if the repertoire isn’t very highbrow. As I said to someone last night, “I have probably 10 or 20 CDs of Renaissance and Medieval Christmas music, but I don’t have but one or two of traditional Christmas music, and sometimes it feels like I should reverse that ratio.”
That said, there was one extremely pleasant surprise on the program, an orchestral work by Resphighi called The Adoration of the Magi, which I had never heard before and which is a haunting, stately work. The crowd, which at a Pops concert can get kind of noisy with the drink service and so forth, was hushed at the conclusion, which is a rare thing indeed.
Oh! And there was Seussiness as well! We did an orchestra plus chorus plus spoken word rendition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, complete with the Who Christmas anthem (“Da-who dorays, fahoo forays, welcome Christmas…”) and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” And it was pretty awesome, in a way that only acting out a favorite childhood TV Christmas special on stage with the world’s greatest Pops orchestra can be.
And now I’m dragging. But it’s OK. The other joyous thing about this Christmas season is that last Friday’s trip to Washington, DC was the last business travel of the year for me. (Insert wild Kermit-the-Frog arm-waving cheer here.) Being on the road more or less continuously since August has really wiped me out. I’m looking forward to being offline for a while to recharge.