Composer: Giovanni Francesco Anerio, William Byrd, Johannes Eccard, Niels Wilhelm Gade, Alessandro Grandi, John Henry Hopkins, Robert Lucas Pearsall, Howard Skempton, Biasio Tomasi
Performer: Theatre of Voices, Ars Nova Copenhagen
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMU807565
Release: 2011
Size: 1.13 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. anon.: Rorate coeli desuper, SWV 322
02. trad.: O come, o come, Emmanuel
03. trad.: Es ist ein Ros’
04. Tomasi: Dum deambularet Dominus in Paradisum
05. Skempton: Adam lay y-bounden
06. Pearsall: In dulci jubilo
07. Grandi: Missus est Gabriel
08. anon.: Puer natus est
09. Byrd: O magnum mysterium
10. Anerio: Voi ch’ai notturni rai
11. trad.: Dormi, dormi, o bel bambin
12. trad.: Liebe Hirten
13. trad.: Andachtsjodler
14. Hopkins: We three Kings of Orient are
15. anon.: Videntes stellam
16. trad.: Personent hodie
17. anon.: Herodes iratus
18. anon.: Vox in Rama
19. Eccard: Uebers Gebirg
20. Eccard: Maria wallt zum Heiligtum
21. trad.: The Holly and the Ivy
22. Gade: Barn Jesus I en krybbe la (The Jesus Child lay in a manger)
23. trad.: We wish you a merry Christmas
This anthology of Christmas carols from the European tradition is not as banal a collection as it may seem. Paul Hillier’s intention here is to place himself in the context of history and musicology, his work being similar to that of Arthur Honegger, who at the end of his life composed A Christmas Cantata, which was based on various traditional songs, motets and folk songs.
Paul Hillier’s work is, as always, of a high standard. Four singers per party in the old English tradition of “Nine Lessons and Carols” which had its first outing on Christmas Eve 1880 in Cornwall. Two ensembles share a selection of texts and melodies which have been arranged for this recording: Theatre of Voices with a discreet accompaniment of theorbo, guitar and organ, and Ars Nova Copenhagen, an a cappella choir with an exceptional quality of style and intonation.
The dialogues come from the Italian repertoire of the seventeenth century from which the oratorio would arise. The music comes from the English, German and Italian popular traditions to which Paul Hillier has added some later pieces by Hopkins, Gade and Skempton. This unique story of the Nativity exudes a seductively interior atmosphere and wonder.