Christmas feelgood factor

The Halle’s Christmas Cracker, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
THIS latest festive offering from the splendid Halle Orchestra was just the ticket for the festive season with carol after carol and Christmas hit after Christmas hit spilling forth from the stage under the accomplished baton of Stephen Bell.

It doesn’t matter how often some of the nation’s best-loved carols are heard, it is always a joy to hear them at Christmas time, and a brilliantly-orchestrated compilation from Sir Malcolm Arnold brought out the best.

From “The First Nowell” and “Away in a Manger”, “I Saw Three Ships” and “The Holly and the Ivy”, they were all there, and it was a delight to hear them roll out as familiar strains untangled from the previous tune, then melted into the next.

Fresh from the stage of “Dirty Dancing”, where she is currently playing Marjorie Houseman in the first national tour of the show, vocalist Shona Lindsay gave voice to a whole list of festive favourites.

Urging the audience to join in, her repertoire of timeless classics included “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, “Silver Bells”, “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

Yet the programme was not confined to the usual Christmas songs, with a John Williams piece from the early Harry Potter movies finding its way on to the line-up with the excuse of essential Christmas TV viewing.

Always keen to give a little background to the music, Bell shared a snippet that “Jingle Bells” was the first ever song broadcast from space, in 1965.

We also learned that “The Christmas Song”, more commonly known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” — written in 40 minutes on a hot summer’s day — is the most-performed Christmas song ever written and Bing Crosby’s original version of “White Christmas” is the biggest-selling single of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of around 50 million, rocketing to a staggering 100 million when cover versions are taken into account.

All in all, the concert offered a fabulous collection of festive tunes and a marvellous way to shrug off the miserable wet weather outside the concert hall and settle into a cosy two hours of feel-good music.