Villette: Hymne à la Vierge, Op. 24

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.

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.

This wide-ranging programme offers connections and contrasts in music of devotion and consolation. The settings by life-long friends Holst and Vaughan Williams, whilst very different, are highly affecting. The music of Rachmaninov, whose hymn derives from his 1915 All-Night Vigil, and John Tavener is immersed in the ritual of the Russian Orthodox Church. Marian Prayers come from Pierre Villette and Knut Nystedt. The music that gives its name to the title of the disc is the beautiful ‘conversation’ of Roxanna Panufnik.

In 2006, Edward Higginbottom celebrated 30 years as Director of Music at New College Oxford. During his time there the New College Choir has achieved international recognition and produced over 70 recordings, many of them worldwide best sellers. This release is the first in a trio of CDs exploring 20th-century choral music, grouped thematically by country. The journey begins in France, where we find Poulenc exploring his religious side, not something often associated with the rebellious and often cheeky Parisian. But he did maintain a strong spiritual streak, remarking once that “he’s not as religious as he’d like to be.” His liturgical writing is deeply contemplative and affecting in its simplicity, yet now and again his witty side will emerge. He shares the disc with his contemporaries Messiaen – represented by his only motet O sacrum convivium – and Pierre Villette who had strong links with the English choral tradition. His ambitious six-part piece Attende Domine was dedicated to the choir of Worcester Cathedral.