Composer: Giovanni Gabrieli, Franz Xaver Gruber, Thomas Hewitt Jones, Herbert Norman Howells, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, William Mathias, Matthew Owens, Robert Parsons, Robert Lucas Pearsall, Francis Poulenc, Michael Praetorius, Carl Rütti, Martin Shaw, Peter Tranchell, Pierre Villette, William Turner Walton, Anton Webern
Performer: Annie Lydford, Catherine Harrison, Sam Dressel, Nick Lee, Rose Wilson-Haffenden, Choir of Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, Catharine Rogers, Anna Mathew, Emma Gullifer, Felicity McDermott, Sam Dressel, Philip Kennedy, Nathan Mercieca, Nicholas Crawford
Conductor: Geoffrey Webber
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Delphian
Catalogue: DCD34152
Release: 2014
Size: 571 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Praetorius: Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen
02. Rütti: A Patre unigenitus
03. Owens: The holly and the ivy
04. Howells: Here is the Little Door
05. trad.: Rocking Carol “Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep” (Arr. E. Higginbottom)
06. trad.: Greensleeves “What Child Is This” (Arr. T.H. Jones)
07. trad.: On Christmas Night “Sussex Carol” (Arr. D. Willcocks)
08. Gruber: Stille Nacht (Arr. G. Webber)
09. trad.: In Dulci Jubilo
10. Tranchell: If ye would hear the angels sing
11. Villette: Hymne à la Vierge, Op. 24
12. Mathias: Wassail Carol, Op. 26 No. 1
13. Parsons: Ave Maria
Webern: Five Canons on Latin Texts for Soprano, Clarinet, and Bass Clarinet, Op. 16
14. No. 2, Dormi Jesu
Poulenc: Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël
15. No. 3, Videntes Stellam
16. Walton: Make we joy now in this fest
17. Shaw: Hills of the North, Rejoice (Arr. G. Webber)
18. Gabrieli: O Magnum Mysterium
19. trad.: Of the Father’s Heart Begotten (Arr. M. Williamson)
Karg-Elert: Cathedral Windows, Six Pieces on Gregorian Tunes, Op. 106
20. No. 3, Resonet in Laudibus
It was with typical discernment that Geoffrey Webber responded to a request to put together his dream Christmas programme. Opening with Jan Sandström’s sublime deconstruction of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen’, Webber’s classy choir reveals and delights in equal measure, finding space for both the Venetian lushness of Gabrieli and the distilled purity of Webern in a seasonal collection which is also sprinkled with unexpected gems of more recent provenance. Edward Higginbottom’s jazz-infused ‘Rocking Carol’, Thomas Hewitt Jones’s eloquently expressive ‘What Child is This?’, and the small miracle that is Matthew Owens’ reimagined setting of ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ all glitter in a programme that dovetails ld and new with characteristic Cambridge sophistication. Founded in 1348, Caius College Choir is one of Britain’s leading collegiate choirs and this is their seventh recording on Delphian. Among the accolades they have received, their 2011 recording of music by Judith Weir (DCD34095) was BBC Music Magazine’s Choral and Song Choice in December 2011. Their most recent release ‘In Praise of St Columba’ (DCD34137) has enjoyed a second week in the Top 20 Independent Classical Charts at the time of writing, and a disc of choral music from Brazil is in preparation for release in 2015. The choir has also joined together with the Choir of King’s College London in two recording projects: Rodion Shchedrin’s Russian liturgy ‘The Sealed Angel’ (DCD34067) and ‘Deutsche Motette: German Romantic choral music’ from Schubert to Strauss (DCD34124).