What do you want when
you look for a CD of Christmas music?
I would guess a mixture of old and new,
with the old cunningly renewed and with
the new not too unfamiliar in idiom
or content. If that is what you want,
then you certainly have it in this disc,
and, what is more, you also have a disc
whose musical standards in terms of
both the music and the performance are
extremely high.
Mendelssohn’s brief
but very festive motet gets the collection
off to a splendid start, followed by
Michael Head’s lovely carol, strangely
by no means as frequently performed
now as it was in the past. There follows
a selection of varied delights. Old
favourites coming up remarkably fresh
include Judith Weir’s "Illuminare
Jerusalem" and Andrew Carter’s
imaginative treatment of "The twelve
days of Christmas". Of the pieces
new to me my own favourites are Naji
Hakim’s wonderfully exuberant "Ding
dong! Merrily on high" and Morten
Lauridsen’s moving "O magnum mysterium",
but it is difficult and possibly unhelpful
to pick out individual items when one
of the main attractions of the disc
is the careful and sensitive programming
which ensures that each item is heard
to the best advantage. When added to
performances which are committed and
sensitive without any of the self-conscious
exactitude to which some choirs are
prone, and a clear but atmospheric recording,
the disc recommends itself.
Rather than list the
pleasures of each item in turn in a
repeat of John Quinn’s earlier review,
let me simply recommend this as one
of the most enjoyable Christmas discs
I have heard for many years, and one
which I am certain will rapidly become
an old favourite to be looked forward
to in anticipation each year.
John Sheppard
See also review by John
Quinn RECORDING
OF THE MONTH
Vasari Singers/Jeremy Backhouse 
