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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | A Winter’s LightA Christmas Collection
The Vasari Singers’ annual carol concerts always provide a warming blend of traditional favourites and less well-known music from all periods and styles. Here, joyous and masterful 16th-century polyphony sits alongside eternally popular Victorian carols, and exquisitely crafted settings by Howells and Walford Davies join works as recent as Gabriel Jackson’s The Christ-child. Bob Chilcott magically superimposes traditional carols with entrancing new material, and no Vasari Christmas would be complete without some close harmony Swingle singing. The Vasari Singers have also recorded Gabriel Jackson’s Requiem (8573049). The Vasari Singers’ Great British Anthems [8572102] was described as “essential listening” by Gramophone. The mixture of moving beauty and entertaining good humour in this programme makes it a disc which is sure to appeal to a very wide audience this and every festive season. Founded in 1980, Vasari Singers is among the leading chamber choirs in Britain, performing music ranging from Renaissance to contemporary. The choir performs regularly in London as well as visiting many of England’s cathedrals to sing services, with recent trips to Canterbury, Salisbury, Bath and Ripon. The choir and Jeremy Backhouse are deeply committed to contemporary music and have commissioned over twenty works since 2000, including works by Francis Pott and Gabriel Jackson. “Rathbone's energetically bouncing arrangement of Gabriel's Message is a good place to sample the Vasari Singers' warmly engaged performances” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *** “I found [the Gibbs] utterly beguiling and count it as a real discovery...The Vasari Singers always close their Christmas concerts with some seasonal sweetmeats, as they do here...the standard of singing throughout the programme is very high indeed – as we’ve come to expect from this fine ensemble.” MusicWeb International, November 2012 | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Nine Lessons & Carols: King's College Cambridge
Bach, J S: | In dulci jubilo (voluntary) | Davies, T: | Christmas Eve | Dean, B: | Now comes the dawn | Gauntlett: | Once in Royal David's city | Goldschmidt, O: | A tender shoot has started | Hurford: | Sunny bank | Jackson, Gabriel: | The Christ-child | Mendelssohn: | Hark! the herald angels sing | Muldowney: | Mary ('The night when she first gave birth') | Ord: | Adam lay y-bounden | Praetorius, M: | Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen arr. Jan Sandström | Rautavaara: | Christmas Carol | Reger: | Wiegenlied, Op. 79d, 1 | Rutter: | All bells in paradise | trad.: | Herefordshire Carol arr. Vaughan Williams In Dulci Jubilo arr. Robert Lucas de Pearsall A Virgin most pure arr. Stephen Cleobury Sussex Carol arr. Philip Ledger God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen The Holly and the Ivy arr. June Nixon While Shepherds Watched Ding dong! merrily on high arr. Mack Wilberg | Tranchell: | If ye would hear the angels sing | Turnage: | Misere’ nobis | Villette: | Hymne à la Vierge, Op. 24 | Wade: | O come, all ye faithful | Weir: | Illuminare, Jerusalem |
With a TV and radio audience of millions, the annual broadcast of carols from King’s College, Cambridge is an essential Christmas tradition for families all over the world. The debut album from the choir’s own label features a specially recorded performance of their glorious 'Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols', and includes many of the most well-known Christmas carols as well as new commissions from some of today’s most popular composers. The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is one of the world’s foremost choirs and unquestionably among the most widely heard. It owes its existence to King Henry VI, who envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel. This remains the Choir’s raison d’être, and is an important part of the lives of its 16 choristers, who are educated at King’s College School, and the 14 choral scholars and two organ scholars, who study a variety of subjects in the College. The Choir has been a breeding ground for numerous professional singers, many of whom will appear on forthcoming recordings from the new label. The Choir has a rich recording heritage, having appeared on many albums for both Decca and EMI Classics. The Choir’s recording of Rutter’s 'Gloria' has sold in excess of 100,000 units globally and its previous albums of Christmas music have sold in millions. This double album faithfully recreates the magic of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, opening with a lone treble singing 'Once in royal David’s city' and closing with a rousing chorus of 'Hark! the herald angels sing'. Each year, the Choir’s Director of Music Stephen Cleobury commissions a new carol, several of which are included on the album, including carols by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Gabriel Jackson, Brett Dean, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Dominic Muldowney and Tansy Davies. In addition, John Rutter was commissioned to write the new carol 'All bells in paradise' especially for this album. “Perhaps the lower voices aren't quite as smoothly blended here as they usually are at King's, but generally the level of achievement reached in these live performances is enviable.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 **** “The recording is full and warm, unmistakably that of King’s College Chapel. If anything is to melt my inner-Scrooge and promote a festive atmosphere, this two-disc release is probably it.” International Record Review, December 2012 “[All bells in paradise is] vintage Rutter: an instantly likable melody supported by comforting mulled wine and mince pie harmony. It's sure to be a favourite with choirs up and down the country for many Christmases to come.” The Observer, 28th October 2012 “The service’s format appears set in stone, but Stephen Cleobury, the college’s long-serving director of music, isn’t resolutely stuck in the past. Not every newly commissioned carol lifts the spirit, but Dominic Muldowney’s Mary is eloquent; so, in its melodious way, is John Rutter’s new offering” The Times, 14th December 2012 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Christmas from Bath
| | Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming 14th-century German, arr. David Blackwell | Archer, M: | A little child there is yborn | Bullard: | Glory, alleluia to the Christ Child! ('Out of the orient crystal skies') I saw a stable | Gauntlett: | Once in Royal David's city arr. A.H. Mann & David Willcocks | Gruber, F: | Silent Night arr. Chilcott | Hewitt Jones, Thomas: | Child is this? | Jackson, Gabriel: | The Christ-child | Ledger: | The Bell Carol | Leontovich: | Carol of the Bells arr. Peter Wilhousky | Mendelssohn: | Hark! the herald angels sing arr. Paul Leddington Wright | Murray, J: | Away in a manger (Mueller) arr. Chilcott | Shephard: | A stable lamp | Skempton: | Adam lay y-bounden There is no rose | trad.: | Sussex Carol trad English, arr. Bob Chilcott It came upon the midnight clear trad English, adapted Arthur Sullivan, arr John Scott Unto us is born a Son Piae Cantiones (1582), arr Willcocks Ding dong! merrily on high trad English, arr. Willcocks God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen arr. Mark Sirett Good King Wenceslas Piae Cantiones, arr. Chilcott While Shepherds Watched Este’s Psalter (1592), arr. Chilcott O little town of Bethlehem v3 arr. Dudley Holroyd, v4 arr. David Hill | Wade: | O come, all ye faithful arr. Ledger |
Marcus Sealy (organ) The Choir of Bath Abbey, Peter King (director) The latest release in Regent’s popular ‘Christmas from …’ series features the Choir of Bath Abbey, directed by Peter King. A wonderful collection of Christmas music from quiet lullabies to full-voiced rejoicing, captured in the stunning acoustic of this beautiful and historic building. Many of the carols featured on this recording are original compositions, or new arrangements, from the recent ‘Carols for Choirs’ Vol 5 collection, and are receiving their first recording on this disc. | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Gabriel Jackson: Beyond The StarsSacred Choral Works II
Celebrating his 50th birthday in 2012, Gabriel Jackson has had a long and close association with the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral. Under Duncan Ferguson’s dynamic direction, they bring a special authority, and all their characteristic verve and intensity, to a sequence of recording premieres that centres on the florid 'Hymn to St Margaret of Scotland', newly written for the choir. Sumptuously recorded, this is a dazzling window into the luminous world of Gabriel Jackson. “You will have to go a long way to hear choral singing finer than this. Take such matters as tuning, blend and diction as read: they are superb. Instead, let us cut to the astonishingly communicative nature of the singing. This is unforgettable...Trebles lines don't just soar...they take wing with a kind of elated abandon...indeed, it seems clear to me that all the performers are inspired by, almost possessed by, this inspired music.” International Record Review, July/August 2012 “the choir rises to and surmounts every challenge. More than that, their performances have tremendous conviction and assurance. Duncan Ferguson has clearly trained his choir superbly. The organ playing of Nicholas Wearne is excellent throughout.” MusicWeb International, July 2012 “a collection of 16 of [Jackson's] endlessly inventive and stimulating choral pieces, some the fruit of his happy association with the excellent choir of St Mary's, Edinburgh. The mix of boys and girls on the treble line...lends a spacious elegance to the sound and a pleasing variety of solo sonorities...Highly recommended.” The Observer, 20th August 2012 “It's the sheer fervour of the singing in Gabriel Jackson's The Glory of the Lord which gets you as it leaps, skids and (at the conclusion) yelps its paean of praise into the vibrant acoustic...The piece is bursting with the desire to worship, and the performance by the Cathedral's choir is scintillating...Filled to overflowing with verve and commitment.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***** “Throughout it all runs an almost tiresomely festive mood, punctuated by jubilant choral shouts and sparkling organ passagework...since the arrival of Duncan Ferguson in 2007 [the choir] has turned into one of Scotland's (indeed one of Britain's) musical jewels...It's easy to get so wrapped up in the ravishing delights of Jackson's writing that you forget the astonishing quality of these performances...a disc of unrelenting impressiveness.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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Gramophone Magazine