Benjamin Britten - Ceremony of Carols - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Britten / Winchester College Quiristers - Ceremony of Carols [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/01/2017

A glorious collection of Christmas music spanning over 900 years, centered around Britten's 'A Ceremony of Carols' - a work seen as both a signal of Britten's turn back towards English musical and cultural traditions and as a distinctly modern composition. Owen Rees and the Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford present this alongside works that alternate between the early 17th century - by that most prolific composer and arranger of Lutheran Christmas music, Michael Praetorius - and the present music by Judith Weir (1984), David Blackwell (2011), Jonathan Dove (2000), Dobrinka Tabakova (2018), Toby Young (2017), and Cecilia McDowall (2007). At one point we interrupt the pattern of alternation to look back half a millennium further than Praetorius, with Hildegard of Bingen's O virga ac diadema. 'An undoubted jewel in Britain's choral scene' (BBC Music Magazine), the Choir of The Queen's College Oxford is among the finest and most active university choirs in the UK. Previous releases with Signum A New Heaven (2017) and The House of the Mind (2018) both went straight to no. 1 in the Specialist Classical Chart in their first week of .

A Staple of the British choral world, the Advent service from St John's College, Cambridge is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 every year, and features a variety of new commissions alongside much-loved favorites from the festive season. This album of live recordings features performances by the choir from their four most recent services from 2014-17. The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge (link is external) is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world - known and loved by millions from it's broadcasts, concert tours and over 90 recordings. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir is known for it's rich, warm and distinctive sound, it's expressive interpretations and it's ability to sing in a variety of styles. Alongside this discipline, the Choir is particularly proud of it's happy, relaxed and mutually supportive atmosphere. The Choir is directed by Andrew Nethsingha following in a long line of eminent Directors of Music, recently Dr George Guest, Dr Christopher Robinson and Dr David Hill. Album Tracks 1. A Hymn of St. Columba 2. Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day 3. The Truth Sent from Above 4. Adam Lay Ybounden 5. The Cherry Tree Carol 6. Vigilate 7. Fuit Homo Missus a Deo 8. This Is the Record of John 9. The Linden Tree Carol 10. There Is No Rose 11. The Birth of Speech 12. The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came 13. I Know a Flower 14. Glory to the Christ Child 15. Lux Mundi 16. I Sing of a Maiden 17. Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day 18. The Clouded Heaven 19. Noe, Noe