Jason McNeil

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At first, I wasn't too keen about being in the balcony. It was Nov. 28, one of the wettest nights in recent memory, and I'd come to First Presbyterian Church to hear the Roanoke Valley Choral Society's Christmas performance, only to find myself dripping dry up near the rafters with a gaggle of grandmas and a few late-coming young family-types. Christopher Wade, the choral society bass and barista extraordinaire who had invited me to the performance, had warned me to get there early, as seats would go fast. I really have to start listening to people when they tell me things like that.

Still, seats are seats, and I was there to listen to the sounds of the season, right?

Imagine my surprise when the sweet sound of holiday singing started, and I discovered that, at First Presbyterian, the best seats in the house are in the balcony. From the first notes of Britten's "A Hymn to the Virgin," it was readily apparent that up in the rafters is the best spot to catch the music as it wafts its way up to heaven. The intricately carved, cathedral-esque wooden ceilings catch and reverberate each sweet note and phrase, adding both acoustics and that elusive something else -- maybe the weight of polished wood, old plaster and the residue of 100,000 prayers.

Call it serendipity, dumb luck or maybe even the most minor of Christmas miracles, but I had stumbled into a "sweet spot" that even the most crazed stereophile would envy. From my fortuitous perch, I settled back and enjoyed an evening of music that thoroughly kick-started my holiday spirit.

Far from just trotting out the Christmas standards, the Roanoke Valley Choral Society's 2005 performance was uplifting, entertaining and just a bit challenging. Simply titled "A Christmas Carol" (not to be confused with the perennial Dickens tale of ghosts and redemption), this year's RVCS presentation was an eclectic mix of Yuletide favorites and lesser-known works. Following the aforementioned opening number, conductor William Snyder offered an unusual ditty called "A Babe Is Born," which wasn't at all what one might expect from a sanctuary choral performance. Maybe it was just severely funky pipe organ action performed by accompanist Judith Snyder, but "Babe" composer Mathias seems to have borrowed heavily from Iron Butterfly's "Ina Gadda Davida" for his musical tribute to the nativity. Enjoyable, but definitely different. Barely had the peals of the pipe organ faded when the singers segued into more traditional fare: a lilting arrangement of "Silent Night."

The rest of the performance continued in a similar vein, alternating familiar hymns and carols with delightful introductions to little-known or sadly forgotten songs. The Vince Guaraldi Trio aside ("A Charlie Brown Christmas"), contemporary jazz artists are not well-known for cranking out holiday songs, but Jones and Dedrick's "A Child Is Born," plinked out on the piano in scintillating contrast to the choral society's soaring vocal harmonies, ranks right up there with the sounds of Snoopy and Linus figure skating for sheer winter wonderland goosebump evocation.

After a brief intermission, the second half of the evening's performance was a bit more rollicking. Showcasing more secular Christmas music, the RVCS singers continued to run the artistic gamut from "Jingle Bells" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to DeCamp's haunting "Portrait of Christmas," "The Christmas Waltz" and, my current fave, "We Need A Little Christmas," from the Broadway musical "Mame." Beatlemaniacs rejoice, the evening ended with a little Lennon/McCartney tune titled, appropriately, "Good Night."

The Roanoke Valley Choral Society brings us wonderful live music performances (at no charge and for no profit) to warm our hearts and enrich our lives. There are some incredibly talented singers among our fellow Roanoke residents, and the best seats in the house are sometimes the ones closest to heaven -- face to face with the organ pipes, and nearer to the ears of the angels.