Vaughan Williams: The blessed Son of God

Choirs and orchestras join for a beautiful celebration of 20th-century British Christmas favourites recorded in sumptuous Argo sound. Book-ended by two perennial favourites – Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Finzi’s In terra pax – this collection explores the subtle and radiant music of Howells, Warlock, Ireland and Holst, and includes an orchestral number popularized by Beecham, Delius’s Sleigh Ride. A magical Christmas journey!

Bill Ives leads the famed Choir of Magdalen College in this selection of choral favourites for Advent & Christmas. The music on this CD ranges from quiet reflection and anticipation to the excitement and celebration of the birth of Jesus and the coming of the Wise Men.

Bill Ives leads the famed Choir of Magdalen College Choir in this selection of choral favorites for Advent and Christmas.The music on this recording ranges from quiet reflection and anticipation to the excitement and celebration of the birth of Jesus and the coming of the Wise Men. Magdalen College is one of the oldest choral foundations in England, with an unbroken tradition stretching back to 1480.The Choir retains much the same shape as it had in the 15th-century, with 16 boy Choristers (educated at Magdalen College School) and 12 adult Academical Clerks (undergraduates of the College).

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.