Utwory na płycie:

• Adam lay ybounden
• Ave Maria
• Hymn to the Virgin
• A spotless Rose
• The Angel Gabriel
• Alleluya, a new work is come on hand
• This is the truth sent from above
• Hosanna to the Son of David (Motette)
• Lully, lulla, thow little tyne child
• The Lamb (Carol) (1982)
• The holly and the ivy
• Remember o thou Man
• Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
• The day Christ was born
• Sing lullaby
• Tomorrow shall be my dancing day
• The Fayrfax Carol
• In the bleak Mid-Winter

Boris Ord:
Adam Lay Ybounden

Robert Parsons:
Ave Maria

Benjamin Britten:
A Hymn To The Virgin

Herbert Howells:
A Spotless Rose
Sing Lullaby

Edgar Pettman:
The Angel Gabriel

Peter Wishart:
Alleluya, A New Work Is Come On Hand

Ralph Vaughan Williams:
This Is The Truth Sent From Above

Orlando Gibbons:
Hosanna To The Son Of David

John Taverner:
The Lamb

Walford Davies:
The Holly And The Ivy

Thomas Ravenscroft:
Remember O Thou Man

Elisabeth Poston:
Jesus Christ The Apple Tree

William Byrd:
This Day Christ Was Born

David Willcocks:
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day

Thomas Ades:
The Fayrfax Carol

Gustav Holst:
In The Bleak Midwinter

Charles Wood:
Ding Dong! Merrily On High

Trad.:
Lully, Lulla, Thow Little Tyne Child

Christmas carols are an integral part of Christmas, along with plum pudding and turkey, paper crowns and mistletoe. They’re sung in all major cathedrals and churches, first and foremost in the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. Nowadays, carols are associated with religion or Christmas, but this close link has developed only over time. First references to “caroles of Cristemas” can be found in British sources from around 1400. Around 1600 the carol could also take the form of a complex polyphonic choral work, such as William Byrd’s six-part Carroll for Christmas Day (1611). During the 19th century, Christmas carols experienced a renaissance when Christmas was promoted as a holiday and commercialised. From the beginning of the 20th century the Christmas carol gained renewed appreciation on the part of contemporary composers such as Gustav Holst, Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells and others. This was due in no small part to Vaughan Williams’ musicological research and to the wide dissemination of traditional carols through the Oxford Book of Carols.

This recording presents singing at the highest level in Christmas Carols from the Middle Ages to the present day. Thomas Ades, for example, was commissioned to write The Fayrfax Carol in 1997. This is a CD which brings pure Christmas joy into your home.

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Recording: 26.–29.11.2018, Funkstudio des SWR, Stuttgart