A Winter’s Light: A Christmas Collection
£12.30
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Label: Naxos
Cat No: 8573030
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Christmas
Release Date: 29th October 2012
Contents
Works
O Holy Night (arr. J E West)Christmas-tide
Rejoice and be merry
Sweet was the song
This is the Truth
In the Bleak Midwinter
O little town of Bethlehem
Hodie
The Stable Door
Sing Lullaby
The Christ-child
I believe in Father Christmas (arr. Rathbone)
Jingle Bells (arr. Ben Parry)
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen (arr. Jan Sandstrom)
Carol Medley
Gabriel's message
Nativity Carol
Hodie Christus natus est
Hymne a la Vierge, op.24
Of the Father's heart begotten
Artists
Martin Ford (organ)Vasari Singers
Conductor
Jeremy BackhouseWorks
O Holy Night (arr. J E West)Christmas-tide
Rejoice and be merry
Sweet was the song
This is the Truth
In the Bleak Midwinter
O little town of Bethlehem
Hodie
The Stable Door
Sing Lullaby
The Christ-child
I believe in Father Christmas (arr. Rathbone)
Jingle Bells (arr. Ben Parry)
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen (arr. Jan Sandstrom)
Carol Medley
Gabriel's message
Nativity Carol
Hodie Christus natus est
Hymne a la Vierge, op.24
Of the Father's heart begotten
Artists
Martin Ford (organ)Vasari Singers
Conductor
Jeremy BackhouseAbout
The mixture of moving beauty and entertaining good humour in this programme makes it a disc which is sure to appeal to a very wide audience this and every festive season.
Founded in 1980, Vasari Singers is among the leading chamber choirs in Britain, performing music ranging from Renaissance to contemporary. The choir performs regularly in London as well as visiting many of England’s cathedrals to sing services. The choir and Jeremy Backhouse are deeply committed to contemporary music and have commissioned over twenty works since 2000, including works by Francis Pott and Gabriel Jackson.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Chilcott - This is the truth
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2Rathbone - Gabriel's Message
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3Sweelinck - Hodie Christus natus est
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4Praetorius, arr. Sandstrom: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
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5Howells: Sing Lullaby
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6Willcocks: Of the Father's heart begotten
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7Walford Davies: O little town of Bethlehem
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8Rathbone: Carol Medley
Europadisc Review
Running like a thread through the first half of the disc are three movements from Bob Chilcott's 2010 cycle On Christmas Night, each seamlessly but thoughtfully combining his own setting of a seasonal text with a traditional carol. One of the most popular of contemporary choral composers, Chilcott is further represented by his simple 1997 setting of Janet Lewis's charming 1981 lullaby Christmas-tide.
At the other end of the chronological spectrum are two settings of the joyful Christmas vespers antiphon Hodie Christus natus est, by Giovanni Gabrieli (1597) and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1619), both buoyantly sung whilst still well-integrated into the recording's overall sound-picture.
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — a golden age for carol writing — are well represented, not least by Henry Walford Davies's delightful setting of O little town of Bethlehem (complete with its introductory biblical recitative) and Harold Darke's justly-celebrated version of In the bleak mid-winter. The 'next generation' of carols here includes Herbert Howells's Sing Lullaby and Pierre Villette's exquisitely evocative Hymne à la Vierge, inexplicably neglected in his native France but a firm favourite with English choirs.
More recent festive fare comes in the shape of John Rutter's highly popular Nativity Carol of 1971, which here rubs shoulders with Gabriel Jackson's gently lilting The Christ-child, a 2009 commission for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge.
Among the more striking arrangements, two in particular stand out: Jonathan Rathbone's exuberant 1991 adaptation of the ever-popular Gabriel's Message, and Jan Sandström's hauntingly beautiful 1990 arrangement of Michael Praetorius's 16th-century hymn setting Es ist ein Ros entsprungen. Traditionalists will certainly also enjoy Of the Father's heart begotten in David Willcocks's 1963 version, complete with imposing organ accompaniment.
In a rather different vein, two Swingle-style close-harmony arrangements provide a lighter side to the festivities, in the shape of Ben Parry's version of Jingle Bells and Jonathan Rathbone's adaptation of Greg Lake's I believe in Father Christmas, while a similarly light-hearted Carol Medley also by Rathbone makes a perfect conclusion.
Solo contributions are uniformly excellent, Martin Ford's organ accompaniments perfectly judged, and the recording ideally balanced. At bargain price, this latest Vasari disc is sure to delight anyone looking for a musical backdrop to this year's Yuletide celebrations.
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