Oliver Martin-Smith - Carols & Anthems - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

This new sequence of Christmas carols was written in 2007 by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy and composer Sasha Johnson Manning, and premiered in the same year. The Manchester Carols re-tell the Christmas Story for the 21st Century. Album Tracks 1. The Carol Singers' Carol 2. Mirabile Dictu 3. The Advent Carol 4. Christmas Flowers 5. Annunciation 6. The Trees 7. Let It Be Cold 8. A Miracle 9. An Angel 10. New Boy Born 11. The Gold of Straw 12. Mary's Carol 13. Each Child's Name 14. Call It Nazareth 15. We Believe 16. The Present Song

In Great Britain Christmas carols are an integral part of Christmas just like plum pudding and turkey, paper crowns and mistletoe. They are sung in all big cathedrals and churches at Christmas, first and foremost in the time-honored chapel of King's College. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols- a Christmas mass featuring King's College Choir, nine short readings and, of course, carols- has been broadcast live on the radio every year since 1928 on Christmas Eve. The a cappella choir SWR Vokalensemble belongs worldwide to the best choirs, renowned mostly for it's exquisite performances of modern music. This album however contains traditional, centuries old Christmas Carols, arranged by British composers like Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Byrd, to name just a few. Album Tracks 1. Adam Lay Ybounden 2. Ave Maria 3. A Hymn to the Virgin 4. A Spotless Rose 5. The Angel Gabriel 6. Alleluya, a New Work Is Come on Hand 7. This Is the Truth Sent from Above 8. Hosanna to the Son of David 9. Lully, Lulla, Thow Little Tyne Child 10. The Lamb 11. The Holly and the Ivy 12. Remember O Thou Man 13. Jesus Christ the Apple Tree 14. This Day Christ Was Born 15. Sing Lullaby 16. Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day 17. The Fayrfax Carol 18. In the Bleak Midwinter 19. Ding Dong! Merrily on High

Unlike Witold Lutoslawski's Folk Melodies for piano(1945), which instantly became extremely popular, his Christmas carols were performed relatively rarely, despite the fact that the collection was published as soon as 1947.It was only in April 1980 that tenor Piotr Kusiewicz, freshly out of music school in Gdansk, introduced the carols onto the musical circuit. Starting in 1981, Kusiewicz and pianist Waldemar Malicki subsequently performed the work several dozen times in musical centers across Poland. The present CD is of a recording made in 1986 in the Radio Gdansk studio. Album Tracks 1. The Angels Said to the Shepherds 2. It Was Already Midnight 3. Jesus, Lovely Flower 4. Hola, Hola, Shepherds from the Fields 5. Hey, Hey, Thou Lily Virgin Mary 6. He Is Lying in a Manger 7. When Christ Was Born 8. They Hurried to Bethlehem 9. Tiny Jesus 10. Hey! We Rejoice 11. When the Lovely Maiden 12. Hey, on the Day of the Nativity 13. And What with This Child? 14. We Shepherds Too 15. The Little Babe 16. Sleep, Little Jesus 17. The Gentle Shepherds 18. Of the Lord's Birth 19. The Most Blessed Maiden Walked on Earth 20. God Is Born