Adolphe Adam:
Cantique de Noël

Hector Berlioz:
L’adieu des bergers a la sainte famille (from L’enfance du Christ)
O mon âme

Charles Gounod:
Noël (Chant des religieuses de Uhland)

Camille Saint-Saëns:
Domine, ego credidi
Alleluia

César Franck:
La vierge a la creche (arr. Joseph Noyon)

Claude Debussy:
Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons

Alexandre Guilmant:
Cour de Jésus enfant

Jules Massenet:
La neige

Fernand de La Tombelle:
Dans les cieux regne l’allégresse

Trad.:
Il est né le divin enfant (arr. Gabriel Fauré)
Nous voici dans la ville (from 40 noëls anciens) (arr. Léon Roques)
Quelle est cette odeur agréable ? (arr. Léon Roques)
Quittez, pasteurs (arr. Léon Roques)
Noël nouvelet (arr. Léon Roques)
Noël d’enfants (arr. Gabriel Fauré)
Portuguese Hymn (Adeste fideles) (arr. Charles Gounod)

The Choir of Caius College Cambridge never shy from exploring the unusual, and this album is no exception. Gorgeous French pieces for advent - much tampered since their composition to suit English/American tastes - are presented in their original splendour, accompanied by the French-style organ of the Chapel of Exeter College Oxford. The resulting Romantic fervour (two pianos and organ?) is an aspect of Christmas that is sometimes lost amid the Anglo-Saxon tradition of Christmas trees and domestic bliss, and it gives fresh context and meaning to beloved music from Berlioz and his successors.

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Recorded at Exeter College Chapel, Oxford, 4-6 April 2018