The booklet notes explain how the music on this disc covers
the season of the church calendar between Advent and Christmas.
Established in the 1670s the renowned choir relish this varied
Christmas mix of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar.
The majority of the twenty-four scores are for unaccompanied
choir with a further ten receiving organ accompaniment. No Christmas
collection would be complete without the long established staples:
Ding! dong! Merrily on high sung here with such unbridled
joy and O come, all ye faithful delightfully rendered
but a touch on the slow side. The gentle O little town of
Bethlehem is quite exquisitely performed and Mendelssohn’s
Hark! the herald angels sing is really uplifting. Of
the several scores that I was not familiar with the most fascinating
are William Mathias’s dynamically impressive A babe is born,
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s Out of your sleep and the
starkly beautiful There is no rose by John Joubert. Contemporary
Christmas scores are represented by Matthew Martin’s rather
sombre Adam lay ybounden first performed in 2006 and
Michael Finnissy’s Telling - a gorgeous composition from
2008.
My particular Christmas favourites are represented by Gruber’s
Silent night, so affectingly sung in the arrangement
by Sir Philip Ledger and also Harold Darke’s In the bleak
mid-winter which sounds somewhat restrained. We will all
have our own particular favourites and I would have liked the
disc to have included Peter Warlock’s Bethlehem Down,
Gustav Holst’s version of In the bleak mid-winter and
something by Eric Whitacre maybe arrangements such as his Lux
Aurumque (Light and Gold) or Nox Aurumque (Night
and Gold). However, I realise that it is impossible to satisfy
everyone’s taste.
Under the confident direction of Andrew Nethsingha the Choir
of St John’s College, Cambridge is impeccably prepared; disciplined
and assured. I was struck by the choir’s texture and balance
with a fine body of tone. Most of all their sensitivity to the
meaning of the text is above reproach. The release has the advantage
of full texts and translations plus a splendid essay. If I wanted
a single disc of Christmas-themed music in my collection I would
be happy with this release from Choir of St John’s College,
Cambridge.
Michael Cookson
Track Listing
John RUTTER (b. 1945)
What sweeter music [4:35]
Traditional French,
arr. Stephen JACKSON (b. 1951)
Noël nouvelet [3:35]
James BURTON (b. 1974)
Balulalow [2:25]
William MATHIAS (1934 -1992)
A babe is born, Op.55 [3:24]
Harold DARKE (1888 -1976)
In the bleak mid-winter [4:46]
Traditional French,
arr. Mack WILBERG (b. 1955)
Ding! dong! merrily on high [2:48]
Elizabeth POSTON (1905-1987)
Jesus Christ, the apple tree [3:16]
Traditional English,
arr. Philip MARSHALL (1921-2005)
I saw three ships [2:02]
Sir Richard Rodney BENNETT (b.
1936)
Out of your sleep [1:44]
Peter WARLOCK (1894-1930)
Benedicamus Domino [1:25]
John JOUBERT (b. 1927)
There is no rose [2:27]
Traditional English,
arr. Sir David WILLCOCKS (b. 1919)
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day [2:00]
Matthew MARTIN (b. 1976)
Adam lay ybounden (2006) [3:13]
Matheo FLECHA the Elder (attrib.)
(c.1481-1553)
Riu, riu, chiu [2:37]
Tradional English,
arr. Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
(1872-1958)
and Sir
Thomas ARMSTRONG (1898-1994) (descant in last
verse)
O little town of Bethlehem [3:42]
Traditional German,
arr. Michael PRAETORIUS (1571-1621) (verse
1) and Donald CASHMORE (b. 1926)
Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen [2:54]
Christopher ROBINSON (b.
1936)
Make we joy [2:09]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847), arr.
Christopher ROBINSON (b. 1936)
(last verse)
Hark! the herald angels sing [3:15]
Sir John TAVENER (b. 1944)
The Lamb [3:50]
Michael FINNISSY (b. 1946)
Telling (2008) [4:06]
Kenneth LEIGHTON (1929-1988)
Coventry Carol [3:17]
Traditional English,
arr. Sir Philip LEDGER (b. 1937)
On Christmas night (Sussex Carol) [2:03]
Franz Xaver GRUBER (1787-1863),
arr. Sir Philip LEDGER (b.
1937)
Silent night [3:13]
John Francis WADE (c. 1711-1786),
arr. Sir David WILLCOCKS (b.
1919)
O come, all ye faithful [4:02]
John Challenger (organ)
[74:22] 
