Gruber, F: Silent Night

£1 will be donated to the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer for every CD sold

'A sound to melt the heart. I love it!' Aled Jones

A CD of everybody's favourite Christmas melodies 'The Christmas Collection' is a hit on Classic FM, and raising money for the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity. The disc includes the Pavao Quartet's special arrangement of 'Silent Night', as performed for the Duchess of Cornwall. The Pavao Quartet are prizewinners from the Royal Academy of Music, London; their classical concerts have taken them all over the world, and they have also worked with artists as diverse as Sir Willard White, Elaine Paige, Katherine Jenkins, Cee-Lo Green, Sir Paul McCartney and Adele. Their 'Christmas Collection' for Breakthrough Breast Cancer became part of the soundtrack of Christmas for many people, on disc and on radio.

'There are more than 500 renditions of 'Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas'. I haven't heard them all, of course, but I've heard enough of them to be fairly sure that the one by your marvellous "Pavão Quartet" is the most beautiful. First of all, the arrangement is extraordinary (as are all the arrangements). And secondly, the performances by you four virtuosos are beyond criticism. Thank you for this treasure which I will enjoy the rest of my life.'

- Hugh Martin (composer of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas')

This Christmas CD was recorded in April 2007 and it is the first CD in a series of four. It is the first CD produced since the choir resumed its musical ambitions under its present conductor, Christoffer Holgersson, in 2001.

As a follow up to the hugely successful Hymns Album, Huddersfield Choral society now release 26 Christmas favourites. As with the Hymns Album, the HCS are conducted by Joseph Cullen and joined by a brass ensemble for a selection of these ever popular carols.The Huddersfield Choral Society has an international reputation as the UK's leading choral society, producing a unique and full-bodied 'Huddersfield Sound'.Two previous hymn and carol albums were released in 1985 [for EMI]; both received gold discs for achieving over 100,000 sales.

Noel Nouvelet is a typically vibrant Vasari mix of traditional carols and exciting arrangements of familiar tunes, reflecting the choir’s ongoing desire to dress up the traditional in new clothes, to blend tradition with innovation. So, for example, alongside Kenneth Leighton's beautiful Coventry Carol, Naji Hakim’s exuberant version of Ding dong! Merrily on high and Morten Lauridsen’s powerful O magnum mysterium sits Ward Swingle’s arrangement of Mel Tormé's Christmas Song, Jonathan Rathbone's sumptuous arrangement of Silent Night and Nigel Short's equally lush adaptation of Away in a manger. The CD also includes several world premiere recordings, including Love came down at Christmas by Humphrey Clucas and Andrew Carter's firmly tongue-in-cheek showpiece arrangement of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

The Gloucester Cathedral Choir follow their imaginative and acclaimed first release on AVIE, In The Beginning (AV 2072) with a spirited holiday album of traditional and contemporary carols, including famous arrangements by Sir David Willcocks and Sir Philip Ledger, as well as the newly commissioned title track from Richard Rodney Bennett.

As the successor to the boys and monks of the Benedictine Abbey, The Gloucester Cathedral Choir boasts a tradition tracing back over 900 years. Henry VIII established their current incarnation, along with the Church of England, in 1539. Andrew Nethsingha, the choir’s Music Director at the time of this recording, was a chorister at Exeter Cathedral, where his father, the distinguished Sri Lankan-born English church musician Lucian Nethsingha, was director of music for 26 years. He studied at the Royal College of Music where he was awarded seven prizes and was the youngest cathedral organist in Britain when appointed to Truro Cathedral in 1994. In addition to singing in six services every week, the Gloucester Cathedral Choir is heard annually at the Three Choirs Festival, and regularly at the Cheltenham International Festival and on BBC radio and television broadcasts.

The beautiful church of St. Clement Danes in the Strand is The Central Church of the Royal Air force. They have a long tradition of high quality music making as demonstrated by this album of choral music