.
Every December, over a thousand people attend the Advent carol service in the Chapel of King’s College London, which is repeated over three nights to meet demand.
This album offers a snapshot of one such service, with its characteristic mix of plainchant, seasonal hymns and polyphony old and new. The Great O Antiphons (sung according to medieval Sarum practice) provide the backbone, pointing inexorably towards the Christmas birth.
A brace of premiere recordings centres on composers with personal connections to King’s College, and is complemented by current Professor of Composition George Benjamin’s rarely heard setting of a prophetic text after Isaiah. It intensifies the mood of heightened expectation proper to this very special season, and reminds us that something truly extraordinary is about to happen.
https://www.delphianrecords.com/products/advent-carols-from-king-s-college-london?_pos=20&_sid=433bd0c2b&_ss=r
The compositions and lyrics of the album are inspired by the classic Icelandic novel 'Aðventa', by Gunnar Gunnarssson. The album invites you into the world of the shepherd Benedikt, who walks alone in the highlands of Iceland in December, the darkest and cruelest month of the year, looking for lost sheep. Through the music you experience the magnificent landscapes, the cold, intense storms, kindness, warmth, stillness, isolation, hope and broken dreams. Mógil is an Iceland/Belgian-based ensemble whose music blends contemporary classical, folk, jazz, minimal and post-rock into a universe that is completely their own. Belgian reedist Joachim Badenhorst composed the bulk of this concept album. For his compositions he drew inspiration from memories of several previous visits to the Icelandic highlands and by submerging into the book 'Aðventa' by Gunnarson.
Ben Parry: Music for Christmas, The Chapple Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir, directed by Sarah MacDonald
Regent Records is delighted to release this first disc entirely devoted
to the compositions of Ben Parry. There is new choral music for the
entire Christmas season from Advent to Epiphany. In addition to settings
and arrangements of traditional texts there are several new carols with
original words by Garth Bardsley.
Ben Parry is one of the UK's
most distinguished and versatile musicians. He studied at Cambridge,
where he was a member of King's College Choir.
In the mid-1980s he joined The Swingle Singers as a singer, arranger and music director, touring globally and performing with some of the world's greatest artists.
He has subsequently been Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, Director of Choral Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and conductor of Haddon House Opera. He co-founded the Dunedin Consort, was Director of Music at St Paul's School, London, then Director of the Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently Artistic Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and Assistant Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge.
Ben
has an extensive catalogue of compositions and arrangements including
the popular Faber Carol Book, and music published by Peters Edition and
OUP. He has enjoyed commissions from, among others, the BBC Singers, St
John's College, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ely, Norwich, Sheffield, and
Worcester Cathedrals. His compositions have been performed at the BBC
Proms and on the TV and radio.
His music is imaginative, colourful, and impeccably crafted. He was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2013 for his services to the music industry.
Over
the last few years, The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and
its director, Sarah MacDonald, have built an unequalled reputation in
championing contemporary sacred choral music from young emerging
composers, with debut discs of works from Philip Cooke, Ben Ponniah,
Mark Gotham, Iain Quinn, and John Hosking. There have also been discs
from more established composers in the field of church music, including
Paul Spicer, Gary Higginson, and Alan Bullard. Future releases include
discs of music by Stuart Turnbull and Paul Ayres.
1. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
2. Cool Yule (ft. Catherine Russell)
3. We Three Kings (ft. Denzal Sinclaire)
4. O Tannenbaum (ft. Aretha Franklin)
5. Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow
6. (Everybody’s Waitin’ for) The Man with the Bag (ft. Veronica Swift)
7. What Will Santa Claus Say? (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’) (ft. Catherine Russell)
8. Brazilian Sleigh Bells
9. Silver Bells (ft. Catherine Russell)
10. Snowfall
11. Silent Night (ft. Denzal Sinclaire and Audrey Shakir)
Christmas, The Gesauldo Six, Owain Park
For centuries Christmas and the surrounding seasons have inspired composers to new heights of invention. This programme reaches across the ages, from the eternal beauty of the Tudor church right up to the twenty-first century, with each piece chosen to evoke a sense of mystery and joy.
In the Renaissance, Advent — the weeks preceding the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas — was a time of wonder and reflection. Centuries-old carols tell this story, with some works presented here in their inherited form, others reimagined by skilled arrangers. Pieces that focus on the birth of Christ form the backbone of this collection: Thomas Hardy’s tableau of the scene on Christmas Eve is particularly striking, alongside music that heralds the baby’s arrival and offers insight into the first few weeks of Jesus’s life. Themes and forms are echoed through the ages: two lullabies, though written centuries apart, employ coaxing refrains to be sung to disquieted children; some of the most exquisite melodies are found in works dedicated to Mary.
I hope that we have managed to capture something of the festive spirit, with moments of stillness set against joyful exuberance. It is music that we thoroughly enjoy singing — we all feel a certain magic when we revisit this repertoire towards the end of each year.
"Veni Emmanuel" is an Advent hymn dating back to the Middle Ages, its roots being in plainchant antiphons used in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It is known to many in its English translation, ‘O come, Emmanuel’, heralding the arrival of the saviour. Philip Lawson’s arrangement pays homage to the chant-based melody, the sensitive writing for the accompanying parts gently supporting the familiar tune.
German composer and theorist Michael Praetorius was one of the most versatile and prolific composers of his generation, but is perhaps best known for his adaptations of Protestant hymns. "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," a 6 takes a text by Martin Luther — a translation of the hymn ‘Veni, redemptor gentium’ — and sets it to dramatic rhetorical effect, with imitative textures and arresting gestures constantly seizing the listener’s attention.
As each new segment of the melody is introduced it is shortly followed by a series of increasingly florid embellishments — a constant rewiring of the texture that is interrupted with great impact to herald the final line, ‘Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt’ (‘that God ordained him such a birth’).
"The Annunciation," a setting of words by the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir, was composed in 2011 for the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, by British composer Jonathan Harvey who believed this would be his final work. Harvey sought a form of spirituality with unity at its core, with particular emphasis on the interaction between energy and stillness, an approach that finds a parallel in the Advent season’s combination of expectation and reflection. The beginning of each stanza is marked by the introduction of a musical idea that subtly refers back to the opening statement.
A moment of calm in the centre of the work—‘Feathered through time’—is later recaptured, as the ‘deepening trance’ of the final stanza is brought alive with a beautiful series of closing chords.
"Videte miraculum" is a choral respond by Thomas Tallis which uses plainsong both as a solo line and dissolved into a beautifully woven six-part polyphonic texture. Particularly striking is the opening point of imitation on ‘miraculum’—a dissonance repeated in each vocal entry to hypnotic effect—as well as the radiant harmony at ‘Et matrem’ which seems to gain in intensity each time it returns (also notable as the piece is thought to have been written when Queen Mary I was with child).
Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s "The promised light of life" sets a Latin text by St Bede, which is briefly conflated with a short phrase in English from the Revelation of St John the Divine: ‘I am the bright and morning star.’
The voices are gradually revealed through the building-up of chords, an effect repeated at the end of the piece. The middle section is coloured by long melismatic vocal lines, highlighting the word ‘aeternam’ (‘everlasting’).
"Gaudete," meaning ‘rejoice’, is a medieval carol related to the third Sunday of Advent, known as ‘Gaudete Sunday’. The song was first published in about 1582 in a Scandinavian volume called Piae Cantiones. The simple tune of each verse is answered by the pithy refrain or ‘burden’, harmonized in this version by Brian Kay.
Having spent several years collecting folk songs for The English Hymnal, Ralph Vaughan Williams skillfully arranged The truth sent from above with harmonies that echo the style of the Tudor composers he so admired. The text and melody were later used in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols, first performed in Hereford Cathedral in 1912. For the final verse Owain Park has reimagined some of these harmonies in a more contemporary light, subtly referencing chord progressions from Vaughan Williams’s own works.
The German hymn "Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen" first appeared in print in 1599, and was commonly sung to a melody harmonized by Michael Praetorius ten years later. The first verse describes a rose sprouting from the stem of the Tree of Jesse, an image that was especially popular in medieval times and featured in many works of religious art from the period. Since the nineteenth century other verses have been added, with most focusing on the fragrance of the tender flower which dispels darkness and evil.
"Angelus ad virginem" is a popular medieval carol that appeared in at least six manuscripts from the late thirteenth to the mid-sixteenth century in England, France and Ireland. The words appeared in Latin (‘Angelus ad virginem’) as well as English (‘Gabriel fram evene king’) with subtle differences in the melody across the sources. The complete poem, which tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, is said to have originally consisted of twenty-seven stanzas, each beginning with the consecutive letter of the alphabet. Here we perform a more modest four verses, gradually adding voices as the piece progresses.
"Lullay my liking" was written by Gustav Holst for a Whitsun festival in Thaxted. The refrain is an early example of an English lullaby; the term ‘lullaby’ is thought to have originated in the sounds made to calm fretful children — in this case ‘lu lu’ or ‘la la’, or ‘bye bye’ as heard in the similarly ancient Coventry Carol. Though it is known that Holst preferred each verse to be sung by the same soprano soloist, here we have assigned each verse to a different singer to bring out the nuances of the text.
John Rutter composed "There is a flower" in 1985 at the invitation of George Guest, then organist and choir director of St John’s College, Cambridge. The words were written by fifteenth-century priest and poet John Audelay, who focuses on the imagery of a ‘Jesse Tree’, whose branches offer a sign of new life and were often depicted in medieval painting and stained glass.
The melody effortlessly rises towards the middle of each verse before falling back down, much like the blooming and withering of a flower. Rutter takes us on a journey through different textures, with moments for solo voice juxtaposed with six-part chordal writing. Particularly effective is the orchestration of the fourth verse, where the upper voices depict flights of angels singing ‘Alleluia’ over the tune in the lower parts.
With over 500 works attributed to his name, Jacob Handl was a prolific composer of the late Renaissance, writing during the Counter-Reformation in Bohemia. The festive motet Canite tuba opens with a striking descending motif that introduces all five lower voices in quick succession. The texture is often busy and involved, with parts occasionally joining together in twos or threes to emphasize important moments in the text. Melodic lines commonly a
Christmas Carols with Libera
You Tube sensations Libera invite you to celebrate Christmas with their unique sound and 17 of their favorite songs.
Boys from South London with 65 million views on YouTube make up the choral group Libera and are normal kids aged 7 to 16 years. The music they produce is truly extraordinary. In addition to their annual tour to America, Libera appearances include The Today Show, Tonight Show, PBS, NBC, Kennedy Center Honors, Yankee Stadium Papal Mass and many more. Their new album ''Christmas Carols With Libera'' takes on the mellow and the more upbeat songs in this collection and the boys of Libera had great fun.
The likes of ''Ding Dong Merrily On High'' require real precision, as well as purity. Many of the tracks were recorded during a group 'retreat' to a rehearsal space in an old school, this allowed a true live feel to the process.
The boy who took the lead vocal on 'The Snowman' had just turned 9 years old, whilst the introductions to the French 'Noël Nouvelet' and the Irish 'Wexford Carol' are both handled by native French and Gaelic speakers, Libera is as polyglot as ever.
The distinctive sound of Libera has travelled the world in the last few years. The group's albums have topped both mainstream and classical charts in many countries, and their recordings hold their place in top 10s alongside major artists.
Libera's unique sound has endeared the group to fans all over the world, particularly in the USA, the UK, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, where their CDs top the mainstream and classical charts and where they pack concert halls appearing in their trademark flowing white robes on imaginatively lit stages.
| 1 | In Dulci Jubilo |
| 2 | Walking In The Air |
| 3 | Ding Dong Merrily On High |
| 4 | In the Bleak Mid-Winter |
| 5 | Noel Nouvelet |
| 6 | Once in Royal David's City |
| 7 | I Saw Three Ships |
| 8 | What Child is This (Greensleeves) |
| 9 | Sing Lullaby (The Infant King) |
| 10 | Carol of the Bells |
| 11 | Wexford Carol |
| 12 | O Little Town of Bethlehem |
| 13 | The Angel Gabriel |
| 14 | Poor Little Jesus |
| 15 | Gaudete |
| 16 | Silent Night |
| 17 | Do You Hear What I Hear? |
Label : Christophorus
A Festival of Nine Lesson and Carols: The Centenary Service
Sunhae Ims uniquely enthralling voice and her extraordinary stage presence have made her one of the world's leading sopranos in the opera and concert fields.
Ravishing this is how the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described her very special voice. Under the title of Didone abbandonata, she now interprets opera arias and cantatas for CPO, some of them with strings, others with continuo, by Niccolò Jommelli Giovanni Ristori, Johann Adolph Hasse, Nicola Antonio Porpora, and other composers.
She is accompanied by Teatro del Mondo, an ensemble that has set itself the task of performing Baroque music tracing its origins to changing times. Dido, the Queen of Carthage who fell in love with Aeneas but whom he then left behind on his voyage from Troy to Rome, is one of the great tragic female figures of antiquity. Operas and some cantatas such as those by Ristori and Faggioli attest to the timeless fascination of this story and to its significance for the Italian Baroque opera.
Label : Cpo Records
In this live recording- the second in The Dale Warland Live series- selected works of two 20th century composers, one British and the other American, are performed with exquisite choral acumen. The program consists of Benjamin Britten s acclaimed A Ceremony of Carols and Daniel Pinkham s Christmas Cantata with brass and organ. In addition, Pinkham s rarely performed Company at the Creche is included with four other Christmas works. The distinguished career of choral composer and conductor Dale Warland spans more than six decades and has made a profound contribution to the music of our time. As conductor, composer and founder of the Grammy-nominated Dale Warland Singers, he is one of only three choral conductors inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. Gothic Records.
Lasst Uns Lausches, Sonot Vox, Motley Brass
Label : Sony Classical Imp
Make We Mary: Christmas Music for Upper Voices, Benenden Chapel Choir, London Metropolitan Brass, Edward Whiting
The largest work is the first recording of David Bednall's major cycle of eight carols: "Make we Merry" for upper voices, brass, percussion, and organ, which was commissioned for Benenden Chapel Choir, and first performed by them in 2018. Also featured is the first recording of Bob Chilcott's cycle "The Midnight of your birth", and the first commercial recording of the complete upper-voice version of Snow Angel by Canadian composer, Sarah Quartel. The highly polished performances of Benenden Chapel Choir will both entertain and inspire upper voice ensembles to perform these works for years to come.
Benenden Chapel Choir under the direction of Edward Whiting have built an enviable reputation as one of the UK's finest upper-voice choirs through the critical recognition of their previous recording on Regent of David Bednall's Stabat Mater (REGCD481), with Jennifer Pike (violin), which was a Gramophone Editor's Choice. Label : Regent
Nowell Synge we bothe and som: A Feast of Christmas Music in Medieval England
Gothic Voices
Gothic Voices reputation for the originality of its programming is cemented with its first recording of medieval Christmas music, in which Julian Podger reimagines a fifteenth-century carol evening.
Mirroring the modern practice of performing mostly music from the preceding centuries alongside some contemporary repertoire, the programme includes late medieval English carols, chant, mono-and polyphonic songs and motets for the Advent and Christmas season, focusing on Mary, her Annunciation and the birth of Jesus.
Larger-scale festive motets and mass movements by English late medieval celebrities John Dunstaple and Leonel Power also feature. The evening concludes with a summons to wake up to the significance of Christmas, with the conductus call "Resonet, intonet" introducing the carols "Nowell syng we bothe al and som" and "Nowell: Owt of your slepe" and the great Christmas chant "Puer natus est nobis," arranged here into a joyful finale. This recording has been widely anticipated since a performance of this repertoire in December 2016 was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as its number one unmissable Christmas event.
Label: Outthere Music
We bring together on two albums the most beautiful songs from Noël baroque, a release by the Maîtrise de Radio France and Les Musiciens de Saint Julien under François Lazarevitch that has enjoyed great success in recent years, completed by Noëls en Pays dOc and other ancient Christmas carols.
Secret Life of Carols: 800 Years of Christmas Music
Label : Ars Produktion
Twas the Night Before Christmas, Burning River Brass
Classical meets Christmas in this latest offering from the Burning River Brass. Beautifully arranged Christmas favorites from this tremendous group of brass and percussion! Since 1996, Burning River Brass has been dazzling audiences from Alaska to Taiwan with ''power and virtuosity,'' ''harmonious blend,'' and ''consistently stirring performances.''
Composed of twelve of the finest brass and percussion players in the country, Burning River Brass is an ensemble on fire! The original inspiration behind Burning River Brass was to give great players who were also good friends a chance to play together on a consistent basis. Soon after the first rehearsal in May 1996, BRB began to grow rapidly. The ensemble made its debut in September of 1996 in Tremont, Ohio under the auspices of Arts Renaissance Tremont and by 1998 was touring nationally.
Label : Azica
This album celebrates the musical heritage of the Christian feast of the Epiphany, the revelation of the infant Christ to the world. Like the feast itself, the music is traditionally centred on the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem and the star that led them to the Holy Family. Beautifully performed by the choir of Worchester College, Oxford and director Thomas Allery, this album is the perfect musical accompaniment to the festive season.
This recording opens with the rousing hymn "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness", by the prolific hymn-writer the Revd John Samuel Bewley Monsell (d.1875), taking inspiration from Psalm 96 and the gifts of the Magi. It was written in 1863, one year before the re-decoration of Worcester College Chapel. The album then moves through a variety of composers including Thomas Tomkins (d.1656), best known as the organist of Worcester Cathedral, with his anthem for lower voices, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works". Works by Buxtehude, Ireland, Handl, Langlais and Pachelbel are also included.
The Choir of Worcester College, which sings four times a week during the University Term, engages in a wide range of musical commitments including concerts, recordings, and touring. The composition of the choir is unique in Oxford, with the choral scholars being joined twice a week by boy choristers from Christ Church Cathedral School.
The choir has recently toured to Italy and Germany and, within the UK, to Winchester, Worcester, and Gloucester Cathedrals, and has released several CDs. The choristers frequently perform repertoire for upper voices alone, and in this formation have performed in Bristol, St Michael at the Northgate in Oxford and in Coventry Cathedral.
Label: Herald
The Lay Clerks present a joyful album of Christmas favourites to help you welcome in the 'most wonderful time of the year'.
Performed by The Lay Clerks of Guildford Cathedral, in superb new arrangements penned by Richard Whennell, this fine selection of seasonal music features both sacred and popular songs which have become synonymous with our traditional Christmas celebrations. Festive, sentimental and sometimes nostalgic in tone, these songs hearken back to simpler times and express perfectly the desire to be at home with our loved ones to share these special occasions.
Included here are songs for children ("Santa Claus is coming to Town") and songs to celebrate the season ("It's the most wonderful time of the year" and "Winter Wonderland") as well as sentimental ballad-style classics like "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" and "White Christmas." You'll find other Christmas hits like "Let it Snow!" and Mel Torme's "Christmas Song" (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire) alongside beautiful carols such as "Silent Night" and Harold Darke's "In the Bleak Midwinter." Stand by for a Ska version of "Mary's Boy Child" and a Memphis Gospel rendition of "Adolph Adam's O Holy Night."
Settle back for an hour of beautiful Christmas music created to warm your heart and make your season bright.
The Lay Clerks is a group of professional singers employed at the internationally renowned Guildford Cathedral Choir. In addition to their cathedral duties of singing the daily religious offices, taking part in cathedral concerts, broadcasting and touring with the Choir, they are all established musicians in their own right.
They perform variously on operatic, oratorio and concert stages around the world, teach singing, conduct choirs and provide management for other musicians and orchestras. In their spare time, two of them even provide a sheet music rental service to choirs and orchestras throughout the UK. As a group they enjoy nothing more than coming together every day to share their love of singing glorious music in their own wonderful, inspirational cathedral.
Following the great success of his previous Christmas album Festive Frolic, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Naxos, Roderick Elms' new festive CD, A Windy Christmas, features new and light-hearted compositions and arrangements for the festive season.
As the title suggests, the music is performed by (mostly) wind-powered instruments. The Aurora Ensemble (wind quintet), Chaconne Brass (brass quintet), Illumina Duo (Ellie Lovegrove trumpet and Richard Moore organ), John Anderson oboe, Joanna Smith piano. All the choir items are performed by The Joyful Company of Singers conducted by Bramwell Tovey, the new Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Premiere recording of the transcriptions for recorder by J Walsh. Remastered in 2019. Period instruments. Includes "Christmas Concerto."
The New York City Children's Chorus (NYCCC) is pleased to present its second album, Christmas in New York. Before we sang the final notes of our 2015 debut album, Simple Gifts, we knew this project was waiting for us, and for you.
The phrase 'Christmas in New York' is spoken with great excitement by millions of tourists who visit our city in hopes of capturing the joy and beauty that buoys our spirits each December.
For New Yorkers, it means treks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Baroque Crêche or the Natural History Museum s Origami Tree; hearing Musica Sacra singing Handel s Messiah at Carnegie Hall; or stopping to see the decorated windows of favorite shops and sample the seasonal sweets from a favorite bakery.
For the New York City Children's Chorus, Christmas in New York means singing our favorite holiday carols and songs. The glee our children express when they open their folders and find "Carol of the Bells" and "Deck the Hall" are only rivaled by the joy I feel in teaching these Christmas favorites, year after year. In reflecting on the experience of making this album, I find myself extremely proud of the NYCCC choristers commitment to performing such a wide variety of music with beauty, style and integrity, and I am delighted to share it with you. [Mary Huff, October 2019]
The NYCCC at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church is a graded choral program for children in the metropolitan New York City area who wish to receive training in the art of singing in a rigorous and rewarding choral environment.
Founded in 2012, the NYCCC is comprised of nine choral ensembles for children ages four through eighteen, steeped in the bel canto tradition, exploring a range of music from Bach to Broadway. The advanced performing ensembles heard in this recording have appeared at New York s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Town Hall.
Recent appearances include performances of Vaughan Williams' "Sancta Civitas," J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion and appearances on NBC's Today Show and Amazon Video's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The NYCCC has also performed famous works by Schubert, Britten, Faure and Vaughan Williams. The choristers have performed concert tours in Boston, Nashville and Washington, D.C., and abroad in Austria, Canada, Germany and Spain.
Mary Wannamaker Huff is Artistic Director of the New York City Children s Chorus and Associate Director of Music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, where she conducts and plays the organ for liturgies and concerts with the church choirs and the Saint Andrew Chorale and Orchestra.
Her children's choirs have toured internationally and performed in New York City s concert halls, churches and on television. They have also sung for the Tribeca Film Festival, Nintendo and joined Nathan Lane in "The Man Who Came to Dinner." Individual choristers under Huff's guidance have performed in Broadway shows and at the Museum of Modern Art; one of her chorister's solo performances in Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms was hailed as one of New York Magazine's Top Ten Classical Events in NYC.
Andrew Henderson has served as Director of Music and Organist at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church since 2005, where he oversees an extensive liturgical and choral program and the Saint Andrew Music Society's Music on Madison concert series.
Dr. Henderson, also the Associate Organist at New York City's Temple Emanu-El, is chair of the organ department at the Manhattan School of Music and the organ instructor at Teachers College at Columbia University. A native of Thorold, Ontario, he holds degrees in music from Cambridge, Yale and The Juilliard School.
Off genre recommendations
Label : Indesens (Klassik Center Kassel)
Broadway
O Holy Night, London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron
100 Christmas Classic
Certainly, the 'quietest time of year' is also the time when music is to be most frequently heard - not only in public, in shops or markets, but also in the countryside, where Christmas is the time when perhaps the most singing is done. The music author Marius Schneider once underlined this fact by writing: ""God hungers for songs.""
And thus, the time which celebrates the symbolic birth of the Lord is a great time for music - even for people who may have no direct religious beliefs. With this 5CD-Set Capriccio presents in total 100 Classical Christmas titles, sung by most famous choruses and soloists. And draws a bow from the high classical Christmas Oratorio by Bach to more simple songs from the countryside. And of course the most famous song can't be missed: "Silent Night, Holy Night."
Label : Capriccio
Schütz's Christmas Story is an absolute delight from beginning to end. Its charming tableaux of angels, shepherds and wise men stand in stark contrast to the composer's old age and constrained circumstances. On this recording from Yale Schola Cantorum and David Hill, it is the jubilant climax to a program of Christmas motets from the 1640s.
Label: HYPERION
The Spanish 'Golden Age' witnessed an astonishing musical flowering, fully worthy of the nation's new-found preeminence on the world stage.
Focusing on works for Christmas and Epiphany, Stile Antico explores this glittering musical treasury, drawing together an irresistible mix of sumptuous polyphony and infectiously joyful folk dances.
The centrepiece of the is the superbly rich and luminous "Missa Beata Dei genitrix Maria" by Alonso Lobo. Interspersed between it's movements are motets by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero and Christóbal de Morales, an exuberant 'ensalada' by Mateo Flecha, and classic villancicos - traditional carols using folk melodies.
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