Once in a while

The rapid approach of the Christmas season will have choirs large and small busy in preparation of carols and the many bigger repertory works, such as Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The amount of music in celebration of this feast day gets substantially larger each year, often in performance of commissioned works, which are sometimes settings of new libretti by distinguished writers. In all, Christmas must lead the field by a generous margin.

But it has long since suffered the inequalities of any subject that attracts writers and composers: most of the new becomes the neglected old, and performers defiantly repeat that which hits some kind of jackpot. These reverberations largely dictate the choice of many for years to come, following a pattern for which there is no known cure.

We look, as always, to the enlightened choral directors whose sensitivity ensures that Christmas programming draws upon some of the magnificence that is still emerging from the shadows as editors and publishers take up the challenge of making it generally available.

Hopefully some of our readers are involved in this activity. We would like news of unusual or new Christmas music which readers wish to commend.