The First Nowell (arr. Stainer; v6 arr. Ledger) 4.56 Away in a manger (Kirkpatrick arr. Ledger) 2.06 Up! good Christian folk and listen* (Piae cantiones arr. Woodward) 1.15 O little town of Bethlehem (arr. Vaughan Williams; descant Armstrong; v3 arr. Ledger) 3.28 I sing of a maiden (Hadley) 2.28 A Spotless Rose (Howells) 3.08 Once in Royal David’s City (Gauntlett harm. Mann; descant Willcocks) 5.10 Personent hodie (14th-cent. German arr. Holst) 2.38 Myn Lyking (Terry) 3.16 O come, O come, Emmanuel (15th-cent. French arr. Willcocks) 3.30 The Holly and the Ivy (arr. Walford Davies) 3.09 Silent Night (Gruber arr. Willcocks) 3.04 While shepherds watched (Este’s Psalter 1592; descant Willcocks) 2.50 It came upon the midnight clear (arr. Sullivan; descant Willcocks) 3.30 The Lord at first did Adam make (trad. arr. Willcocks) 3.15 Hark! the herald angels sing (Mendelssohn; descant Willcocks) 4.09 Choir of King’s College, Cambridge Gareth Morrell baritone (6) Stephen Varcoe baritone (12) Francis Grier organ (1, 4 & 5) Ian Hare organ (7–11 & 16) John Wells organ (13–15) Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (15) Sir Philip Ledger (1–6) Sir David Willcocks (7–16)
CD 2 - CLARE COLLEGE SINGERS, CAMBRIDGE 50.06
Shepherd’s Pipe Carol (Rutter) 2.55 Infant holy, infant lowly (Polish trad. arr. Rutter) 3.15 Angel Tidings (Moravian trad. arr. Rutter) 1.44 Quelle est cette odeur agréable? (French trad. arr. Rutter) 3.25 I saw three ships (English trad. arr. Rutter) 2.03 Nativity Carol (Rutter) 4.10 Quem pastores laudavere (14th-cent. German arr. Rutter) 2.24 Rocking (Czech trad. arr. Rutter) 3.54 Here we come a-wassailing (English trad. arr. Rutter) 4.09 The Coming of our King (Polish trad. arr. Rutter) 2.40 The Infant King (Basque trad. arr. Rutter) 3.08 Shepherds’ Noël (Catalan trad. coll. Canteloube arr. Rutter) 3.07 Noël nouvelet (French trad. arr. Rutter) 3.31 Gabriel’s Message (Basque trad. arr. Rutter) 3.49 Sans Day Carol (English trad. arr. Rutter) 3.19 Past three o’clock (English trad. arr. Rutter) 2.28 Clare College Singers, Cambridge Clare College Orchestra Roger Garland violin (8) Simon Vaughan baritone (2, 12 & 14) Jeremy Blandford organ John Rutter
CD 3 - TAVERNER CONSORT, CHOIR AND PLAYERS 50.01
Methinks I see an heav’nly host (Billings) 2.19 Taverner Choir Los que fueren de buen gusto (Francisco de Vidales) 4.13 Taverner Consort (Emily Van Evera & Rachel Platt sopranosCatherine King mezzo-soprano) & Taverner Players A virgin unspotted (Billings) 3.14 Taverner Choir Performing editions (1–3) by Clifford Bartlett The Babe of Bethlehem (Walker) 2.40 Taverner Choir Thys endere nyghth (trad.) 4.44 Andrew Parrott tenor Taverner Consort (Charles Daniels, Nigel Robertson tenors · Simon Grant bass) Riu, riu, chiu (Mateo Flecha the elder) 3.24 Richard Wistreich bass Taverner Consort (Jonathan Kenny alto Angus Smith & Nicolas Robertson tenors Chris Purves bass) Christum wir sollen loben schon (trad. arr. Osiander) 3.05 Taverner Choir Gaudete! (anon.,16th century) 1.42 Stephen Charlesworth baritone Taverner Choir · sackbuts Verbum caro: In hac anni circulo (anon. medieval) 2.20 Taverner Choir (female voices) Alleluya: A nywe werk is come on honde (anon., 15th century) 5.51 Taverner Choir The Old Year now away is fled (trad.) 1.51 Evelyn Tubb soprano · Jakob Lindberg bandora Items 4–11 from the New Oxford Book of Carols, edited by Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott (Oxford University Press, 1992) Hodie nobis celorum rex (a 4) (Tallis) 3.23 Taverner Consort (Mark Padmore & Nicolas Robertson tenorsStephen Charlesworth & Donald Greig basses) Taverner Choir Audite, principes (a 16) (Giovanni Gabrieli) 6.15 Taverner Consort (Angus Davidson countertenorJohn Dudley & Nicolas Robertson tenors) Taverner Choir & Players In dulci jubilo (a 16) Pars II (Praetorius) 3.45 Taverner Consort (Tessa Bonner sopranoRogers Covey-Crump & Charles Daniels tenors David Thomas & Eichard Wistreich basses) Taverner Choir & Players Taverner Consort, Choir and Players Andrew Parrott
CD 4 - STAR PERFORMERS 65.36
The Little Drummer Boy (Davis, Onorati, Simeone, arr. John McCarthy) 2.40 El niño querido (Spanish trad. arr. Richards) 2.46 The Gift (Simple Gifts) (trad. Shaker, arr. Chilcott) 2.08 The King’s Singers (Jeremy Jackman & Alastair Hume countertenors Robert Chilcott tenor Bruce Russell & Simon Carrington baritones Stephen Connolly bass) City of London Sinfonia / Richard Hickox Maria Wiegenlied (Reger) 2.24 Go tell it on the mountain (American trad. arr. Ekdahl) 3.29 Joy to the World (19th-cent. English arr. Rutter) 1.53 Barbara Hendricks soprano Eric Ericson Chamber Choir · Children’s Choir Stockholm Chamber Orchestra Eric Ericson Tochter Zion, freue dich (Handel arr. Bickenbach) 3.05 Zu Bethlehem geboren (17-cent. German arr. Bickenbach) 1.52 Hermann Prey baritone Tölzer Knabenchor (8) Christfried Bickenbach organ Graunke Symphony Orchestra (8) Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden (8) Mary’s Boy Child (Hairston) 4.38 Ukraine Bell Carol (Shchedryk) (Ukranian trad. arr. Brett) 3.22 Wiener Sängerknaben (director Gerald Wirth) John Parricelli guitar Andy Pask bass (10) · Paul Clarvis percussion (10) Orchestra / Geoffrey Alexander Il est né le divin enfant (French trad. arr. Tunick) 2.35 Minuit, Chrétiens (Adam arr. Tunick) 3.38 Roberto Alagna tenor The Abbey Road Ensemble Marche des Rois (Provençal trad. harm. Delsinne) 2.46 Noël des îles (Moune de Rivel, vocal trans. Aubanel) 4.41 Chanson joyeuse de Noël (trad. harm. Gevaert) 5.49 Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois Abbé René Delsinne & A. Barbarat Weihnachten (Humperdinck) 3.09 Vom Himmel hoch (trad. arr. Mackerras) 3.12 Elisabeth Schwarzkopf soprano Ambrosian Singers (17) Philharmonia Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras In the Bleak Midwinter (Darke, arr. Tunick) 3.45 O Tannenbaum (German trad. arr. Osser) 2.24 The Twelve Days of Christmas (English trad. arr. Tunick) 4.17 Kiri Te Kanawa soprano (18 & 20) Roberto Alagna tenor Thomas Hampson baritone (19 & 20) London Voices (20) : CD 5 - HUDDERSFIELD CHORAL SOCIETY BACH CHOIR · HALLÉ CHOIR 48.51
God rest you merry, gentlemen (trad. arr. Stainer) 2.12 Good King Wenceslas (Piae cantiones arr. Stainer) We Three Kings of Orient Are (Hopkins) 3.05 Angels from the realm of Glory (French trad. arr. Wood) 3.07 As with gladness men of old (Kocher adpt. Monk) 2.29 Huddersfield Choral Society David Bell organ Owain Arwel Hughes Coventry Carol (16th-cent. English, arr. Martin Shaw)† 2.18 We’ve been a while a-wandering (trad. arr. Vaughan Williams) 2.33 Masters in this hall (French trad. arr. Willcocks) 4.01 See amid the winter’s snow (Goss arr. Willcocks) 3.44 Sussex Carol (trad. arr. Willcocks) 1.41 Ding dong! merrily on high (16th-cent. French harm. Wood)† 1.54 O little one sweet (17th-cent. German harm. J.S. Bach)† 2.51 Wassail Song (trad. arr. Vaughan Williams)† 2.52 Carol with Lullaby (Tate) 3.22 †unaccompanied Bach Choir Jacques Orchestra / Sir David Willcocks Cowboy Carol (Broadhurst arr. Sargent) 3.19 The Shepherds’ Farewell (The Childhood of Christ) (Berlioz) 4.42 We Wish You a Merry Christmas (West Country trad. arr. Warrell orch. Ryan) 1.35 Hallé Choir Hallé Orchestra / Maurice Handford
CD 6 - CHOIR OF KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 52.31
1 Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! (Maconchy) 1.51 And all in the morning (trad. arr. Vaughan Williams) 2.18 I saw a maiden (Basque trad. arr. with refrain Pettman) 3.06 A child is born in Bethlehem (Scheidt, ed. Willcocks) 2.31 Where riches is everlasting (Warlock) 2.49 How far is it to Bethlehem? (trad. arr. Willcocks) 2.14 Of the Father’s heart begotten (Piae cantiones arr. Willcocks) 5.07 Resonemus laudibus (14th-cent. German, arr. Willcocks) 1.57 The Shepherds’ Cradle Song (Bohemian trad. arr. Macpherson) 3.40 Quittez, pasteurs (French trad. arr. Ledger) 3.40 Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child (Leighton) 2.54 Remember, O thou man (Ravenscroft) 3.19 Hodie Christus natus est (Sweelinck) 3.48 Hosanna to the Son of David (Gibbons) 3.11 Angelus ad virginem (Philip the Chancellor arr. Poston) 2.36 My Dancing Day (trad. arr. Poston) 2.04 O come, all ye faithful (Wade arr. Willcocks) 4.46 Choir of King’s College, Cambridge Robert Chilcott tenor (10) Timothy Byram-Wigfield treble (11) Douglas Whittaker flute (15 & 16) Christopher van Kempen cello (16) Andrew Davis organ (5, 15 & 16) Ian Hare organ (7, 8 & 17) · Francis Grier organ (10) Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (17) Sir David Willcocks (1–9 & 13–17) Sir Philip Ledger (10–12)
Discographies
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