Witch-Wife composed by Melissa Dunphy Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) Performed by Choir Matrix Women's Ensemble Poem: She is neither pink nor pale, And she never will be all mine; She learned her Hands in a fairy-tale, And...  moreWitch-Wife composed by Melissa Dunphy Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) Performed by Choir Matrix Women's Ensemble Poem: She is neither pink nor pale, And she never will be all mine; She learned her Hands in a fairy-tale, And her mouth on a valentine. She has more hair than she needs; In the sun 'tis a woe to me! And her voice is a string of colored beads, Or steps leading into the sea. She loves me all that she can, And her ways to my ways resign; But she was not made for any man, And she never will be all mine. This work was commissioned and recorded remotely by Choir Matrix Women's Ensemble in March 2021, sponsored by Consonare Choral Community who holds all rights to this recording. Sound/Video Engineering by Sarah Kaufold, Artistic Director. For more information about this ensemble, please visit: www.consonare-sing.org For more information about this choral work, please visit the composer and publisher website at http://www.melissadunphy.c...    less

Our last song is an original carol written by the incomparable composer and arranger, Chris Hoban. Chris has written many of Show Of Hands’ big hits including, ‘Lily and the Rose’ which he wrote for Miranda Sykes and The Lost Sound. We’ve performed this t...  moreOur last song is an original carol written by the incomparable composer and arranger, Chris Hoban. Chris has written many of Show Of Hands’ big hits including, ‘Lily and the Rose’ which he wrote for Miranda Sykes and The Lost Sound. We’ve performed this together with Show Of Hands, at their 25thAnniversary concert in The Royal Albert Hall in 2017. Chris explains the background of ‘Though We Lie Underground’ for us: I first came across the stories surrounding the curious tradition of West Country miners singing carols underground when listening to a recording of Alan Lomax’s extraordinary live BBC 1957 broadcast “Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year”, a feat of radio genius involving hundreds of performers and groups all over the country, seamlessly brought together for one scintillating hour. At one point, Lomax described how the miners of Devon and Cornwall would celebrate Christmas underground in an almost pagan fashion: they would select the largest lump of tin ore they could handle, set it up in...    less