trad.: Cherry Tree Carol

A splendid selection of popular & less well-known carols performed by the mixed choir.

Volume I of Traditional Christmas Carols broke iTunes’ record for the most downloads of a classical album and remains one of The Sixteen’s most popular discs. This brand new recording contains more festive delights.

There is such an abundance of festive music available to us that sometimes one wishes Christmas did not come but once a year! The Sixteen’s first volume of traditional Christmas carols contains some of our most favourite pieces but there is so much more wonderful festive music that deserves to be better known. So we decided to make a second volume. On this disc you will discover familiar seasonal favourites such as ‘Unto us a boy is born’ and ‘It came upon the midnight clear’ but we have also included some less well-know gems like ‘Cherry Tree Carol’ and ‘Gloucestershire Wassail’.

Andrew Lawrence-King’s virtuoso harp joins the voices of Anonymous 4 in a wealth of Yuletide music, favourite and rare, from the British Isles.

Juxtaposing pagan and Christian traditions, the programme interweaves English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh ballads and carols with well-loved pieces by John Tavener (The Lamb), Benjamin Britten, and a newly commissioned work by Peter Maxwell Davies. Andrew Lawrence-King adds special colour playing a variety of instruments: psaltery, Baroque harp, and a remarkable Irish “Queen Mary” harp which sounds as if it contains its own peal of heavenly bells.

Heavenly voices raised in honour of the Christmas season. Inspirational choral music for Christmas from one of England's finest choirs in a programme chosen from some of the greatest church music of the past. This diverse programme brings together many musical styles and traditions, from the clarity and precision of medieval carols to the emotional intensity of choral music for the Russian Orthodox church. The music varies from quiet, still pieces to huge, exciting crescendos of sound.

Jesus Divine encompasses the wealth of sacred Christmas music from plainsong to Lutheran chorale; from a cappella motets by Howells and Poulenc to the arrangements of traditional carols by Stephen King and Roderick Elms; from the chorale preludes of Buxtehude and Bach to Garth Edmundson's impressive Toccata-Prelude. We have included music in contrasting styles and featuring the organ both as a solo instrument and also in combination with flute, brass, and more contemporary instruments, in order to present a broad selection of sacred Christmas music.