Verbum caro factum est
Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier
Silent Night
In dulci jubilo
The First Noel
Hark! The herald angels sing
Adeste fideles
Three Carols
O Jesulein süß! O Jesulein mild!
Veni, veni, Emmanuel

Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki have sung of the wonders of Christmas a number of times, in Bach’s cantatas and Christmas Oratorio as well as in Handel’s Messiah. Here, instead, we hear the choir a cappella in a selection of classic Christmas carols. Masato Suzuki, son of the ensemble’s founder and director, has selected some of the best-loved songs of Christmas, such as Adeste fideles and Silent Night, as well as less familiar hymns, arranging them especially for these singers. A consummate organist, he also performs a number of Louis-Claude Daquin’s noëls variés – keyboard variations on Christmas songs which became a highly popular genre in 18th-century France.

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Interspersed with seven Noëls for organ solo by Louis-Claude Daquin, from Nouveau livre de Noëls pour l’orgue et le clavecin (1757). Recording: February/March 2018 at Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan