Search results: Search results
12 results
Products
-
-
- trad.: Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day
- Holst: In the Bleak Mid-winter (Cranham)
- Niles: I wonder as I wander
- Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
- trad.: Sans Day Carol
- Ord: Adam lay ybounden
- trad.: Go tell it on the mountain
- Whitacre: Lux aurumque
- Vaughan Williams: Five English Folksongs
- Beamish: In the stillness
- trad.: Ding dong! merrily on high
- trad.: A Virgin most pure
- Willan: Hodie Christus natus est
- trad.: Coventry Carol
- Biebl: Ave Maria
- trad.: My Dancing Day (Arr. B. Chilcott for Choir)
- Gruber: Silent Night
- trad.: The First Nowell
-
SaleThe First Nowell - Christmas Carols Through the Ages / The Edison Singers
Naxos · Nov 2022CD$19.99$9.99 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Whitbourn: Carolae & Music for Christmas / Jordan, Westminster Williamson Voices
Naxos · Nov 2016CD$19.99 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
SaleHely-Hutchinson: A Carol Symphony / Sutherland, Prague Philharmonic
Naxos · Oct 2003CD$19.99$13.99 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The First Nowell - Christmas Carols Through the Ages / The Edison Singers
Naxos
CD
$9.99
$19.99
Save 50%
Nov 11, 2022
The Christmas carol has its origins in the Middle Ages but it has since embraced a wide variety of musical backgrounds. In this album, religious sentiment is set in many different contexts – from the mystery plays to an African American spiritual, from its origins in Gregorian Chant and 16th-century secular dance to traditional examples rooted in poetry. Some of the most famous and beautiful examples are heard alongside energizing contemporary carols to present a tapestry of the genre across the centuries.
CONTENTS:
REVIEW:
The Edison Singers is a Canadian mixed adult choir (7-5-6-6 are listed for this album) founded in Ontario by Noel Edison in 2018. Their singing is well balanced, with commendable precision and clear delivery of the texts. This was recorded in the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph, Ontario. The sound has the spacious ambiance you would expect from such a building. Here is a satisfying Christmas album with a different touch.
-- American Record Guide
Hodie - An English Christmas Collection / The Sixteen
Coro
CD
$18.99
Oct 01, 2001
If you own The Sixteen's 20th Century Christmas Collection (on now-defunct Collins), you have most of the works included on this reissue offered by the choir's own Coro label. The difference is that Britten's A Ceremony of Carols (also previously issued on Collins in The Sixteen's Britten series) appears here instead of Peter Maxwell Davies' O magnum mysterium, a move that certainly makes for a more marketable package. If you don't have the original, this program features many of what have become classics of modern Christmas choral repertoire, among them Howells' A spotless rose, Warlock's Balulalow, Britten's A Hymn to the Virgin, Tavener's The Lamb, and Gardner's setting of Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. But Kenneth Leighton's Coventry Carol is a rarely heard masterpiece, as is Warlock's Corpus Christi--and Rubbra's short The Virgin's Cradle Song and Peter Fricker's similarly brief A babe is born are well worth repeated hearings. This Ceremony of Carols is arguably the finest in the catalog (at least among performances with women's voices), and throughout the disc there is consistently top-notch ensemble singing and solo work of the highest order. The sound is identical to the exceptional quality of the initial releases. An essential disc for any choral and Christmas music library. [10/19/2002]--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
King's Singers Christmas
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99
Jan 01, 2003
In 35 years the British male vocal sextet known as the King's Singers has experienced many turnovers of personnel, including the retirement of virtually all of its original members--but three important things haven't changed one little bit: quality of the performances, camraderie among the singers, and compatibility of the voices. And on evidence of this new release on the Signum label, this premier ensemble has found a recording team that shows the group's talent to an even higher engineering standard than we've ever heard before in previous issues from EMI and RCA.
Throughout these 70-plus minutes and 25 tracks, we hear nothing but absolutely first-class musicianship, top-notch arrangements, and always thoughtfully chosen, entertaining repertoire that invariably and ideally suits the group's sound and style. Among the selections are a few standard carols and arrangements--Vaughan Williams' This is the truth, Ravenscroft's Remember, O thou man, Bach's harmonizations of In dulci jubilo and O little one sweet, and the familiar, anonymous settings of There is no rose, and The Coventry Carol--but there also are many more newer and captivatingly original pieces, several exceptional ones created by King's Singers member Philip Lawson (Lullay my liking; Veni, veni Emmanuel; Noël nouvelet). Notable too are a nifty (and most uncharacteristic) Bogoroditsye Devo by Arvo Pärt, an exquisitely lovely and dramatic rendition of Tchaikovsky's The Crown of Roses, "transformed by the great jazz arranger Jeremy Lubbock", and the concluding re-working (with new, Christmas words by Lawson and a string quartet accompaniment) of the King's Singers signature You are the New Day.
For sheer vocal beauty, you can't beat the performances of Rutter's There is a flower and Stille Nacht, Lawson's Away in a manger, Praetorius' Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, or Bach's O little one sweet. But then, the whole thing is just gorgeous, and if you love Christmas music recordings, well, what are you waiting for? This is one of the best ever. [11/15/2003]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Venite, Gaudete! – Choral Music for Christmas / Ikon
Naxos
CD
$19.99
Nov 10, 2023
Previously released on The Gift of Music label. David Hill is widely respected as a choral conductor. This album features music for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany for mixed voice choirs, blending the old (O come, o come, Emmanuel; Coventry Carol) and the new (Eric Whitacre’s Lux aurumque), in a superb celebration of the festive season.
Whitbourn: Carolae & Music for Christmas / Jordan, Westminster Williamson Voices
Naxos
CD
$19.99
Nov 11, 2016
Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release
James Whitbourn is a Grammy® nominated composer whose music is internationally admired for its direct connection with performers and audiences, The Observer describing him as "a truly original communicator in modern British choral music." Carolae is a fusion of the great Christmas traditions at King’s College Cambridge and Princeton University Chapel, with the Missa Carolæ at its heart. Whitbourn’s love of medieval musical language is reflected in his clever use of original melody with famous carols such as Noël Nouvelet, combined with skillful new arrangements of seasonal favorites such as The Coventry Carol.
James Whitbourn is a Grammy® nominated composer whose music is internationally admired for its direct connection with performers and audiences, The Observer describing him as "a truly original communicator in modern British choral music." Carolae is a fusion of the great Christmas traditions at King’s College Cambridge and Princeton University Chapel, with the Missa Carolæ at its heart. Whitbourn’s love of medieval musical language is reflected in his clever use of original melody with famous carols such as Noël Nouvelet, combined with skillful new arrangements of seasonal favorites such as The Coventry Carol.
Christmas Around The World / West Edge String Quartet
Centaur Records
CD
$18.99
Nov 01, 2010
Carol of the Bells; Wexford Carol; A Holly and Ivy Calypso; Today in Bethlehem; Sleep Baby Jesus; The First Nowell; A la Nanita Nana (Lullaby); Riu, Riu, Chiu; Coventry Carol; In the Bleak Midwinter; A la Media Noche/De Tierra Lajana Venimos; The Bells of Christmas: A Medley of Two Modern Carols; Silent Night; Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming; Christmas Cornucopia; the West Edge String Quartet
The Secret Life of Carols - 800 Years of Christmas Music
First Hand Records
CD
$21.99
Nov 15, 2019
The Secret Life of Carols brings together a mixture of the earliest medieval English carols and traditional carols from across Europe. The title is inspired by the fact that many carols have intertwined roots, dating back centuries, often to the Middle Ages, with melodies being adapted and reinvented, and new sets of words written. In the Middle Ages the term "carol" didn't have the same meaning as today. It was merely an indication of the form of the piece which would start and end with a chorus (named a burden) and would be interspersed with verses which told the story. The word carol is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle dance accompanied by singers. Several medieval carols including The Coventry Carol and There is No Rose are also still sung in modern arrangements at Christmas carol concerts and church services across the country. And indeed these early English carols are very much "for the people". The programme on this album includes a selection of traditional carols from across Europe. Many, like the Burgundian carol Patapan, have roots going back centuries, some as far back as the Middle Ages. There is also a personal dimension to the choice of carols, drawing on three of the roots of the performers on the album- Finnish, German and Irish roots to include several carols which are not well known in the UK.
Hely-Hutchinson: A Carol Symphony / Sutherland, Prague Philharmonic
Naxos
CD
$13.99
$19.99
Save 30%
Oct 01, 2003
There's nothing like Christmas to bring out a composer's more unapologetically clever and enthusiastically indulgent, prodigiously inventive ideas, in apparent realization of childhood's most extravagant fantasies and enchanted imaginings, to say nothing of providing a wonderful excuse for an artist to simply go happily and uninhibitedly wild. The collection of Christmas-inspired orchestral "fantasies" on this CD is certain to become one of your favorite holiday listening traditions as you join these five composers in an upbeat--and sometimes unconventional--celebration of some of the season's most familiar Christmas carols and songs.
Of course, you can treat the material in a variety of ways, from the more straightforward yet impressively adroit fantasias on easily recognizable (if often rhythmically or melodically altered) tunes offered in Bryan Kelly's five-movement Improvisations on Christmas Carols to Victor Hely-Hutchinson's more deliberate attempt at symphonic style and structure in A Carol Symphony, where he actually incorporates carols such as Adeste fideles, God rest ye merry gentlemen, The Coventry Carol, The first nowell, and Here we come a-wassailing into a legitimate four-movement theme-and-development framework
At the program's mid-point we're treated to a string-orchestra arrangement (by composer and liner-note writer Philip Lane) of Peter Warlock's famed carol Bethlehem Down, followed by Lane's own three-movement Wassail Dances from 1973. This latter work shows a fine command of orchestral color and a healthy respect for the power of rhythm and momentum. Finally, we hear Patric Standford's A Christmas Carol Symphony, a big, robust, ruddy-cheeked tribute to this most happy and optimistic of holidays that proudly and relentlessly exerts its sparkling, brassy, brightly colored atmosphere through a mélange of at least a dozen carols, from Deck the hall and Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen to Ding dong merrily on high, The holly and the ivy, and We wish you a merry Christmas. The City of Prague Philharmonic proves a first-rate interpreter of these scores, conveying all the music's exuberance and spirit with flawless technical prowess and Technicolor-grade contributions from the winds and brass. Conductor Gavin Sutherland deserves credit for inspired leadership in these all-too-rarely performed works--any one of which would make a guaranteed audience-pleasing addition to a holiday concert. Having these together on one budget-priced CD is truly a gift worthy of the season it celebrates. And Naxos complements the whole production with top-grade sound. Adeste fidelis!
-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Christmas With Sonoro / Ferris, Higgins
Resonus Classics
CD
$18.99
Oct 05, 2018
For most listeners, even those experienced with Christmas choral collections, the majority of original works and arrangements on this program will be unfamiliar. And that turns out to be a good thing—the selections are diverse enough yet compatible and complementary in style, all set with a sensitivity to text, to the spirit of the occasion—whether celebratory or contemplative—and, importantly, to singability and listenability.
So many Christmas collections in recent years, for some reason mostly from British choirs, have to their credit highlighted new music—but much of it unsingable by any but the most accomplished ensembles, and so difficult for the ear to reconcile alongside starkly more “accessible” works that the listening experience becomes uneasy and even intermittently unpleasant. Which is why I warily listened to the first several selections here—and found myself thoroughly and continuously surprised as the disc progressed. Here is a choral Christmas program that you can listen to straight through without fear, combining the delight of discovery—new composers, new music and texts, new arrangements of traditional carols—with the comfort and joy of a few beloved, favorite, familiar anchors, from Joubert’s There is no rose and Howells’ A spotless rose, to Warlock’s Bethlehem Down.
Beginning with Malcolm Archer’s A little child there is yborn, its bouncy, jovial character reminiscent of a John Rutter setting, the program progresses through a wide array of traditional texts and sometimes tunes—The angel Gabriel; In the bleak midwinter; Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; The Holly and the Ivy; Coventry Carol—but in inventive and always agreeable new realizations by composers and arrangers such as Paul Spicer (whose In a Field as I Lay is a highlight), Gareth Treseder (Blessed be that Maid Marie—another gem), Michael Higgins, Becky McGlade, Betty Roe, and Sally Beamish. And it doesn’t hurt that the singing by the 17 voices of Sonoro—yes, a professional British chamber choir—is consistently well-tuned, perfectly balanced, and projects a vibrant, characterful sound that gives the impression of concert-like spontaneity—a rare and welcome effect on a recording. The sooner you get this the more time you’ll have to listen. Highly recommended.
– ClassicsToday.com
So many Christmas collections in recent years, for some reason mostly from British choirs, have to their credit highlighted new music—but much of it unsingable by any but the most accomplished ensembles, and so difficult for the ear to reconcile alongside starkly more “accessible” works that the listening experience becomes uneasy and even intermittently unpleasant. Which is why I warily listened to the first several selections here—and found myself thoroughly and continuously surprised as the disc progressed. Here is a choral Christmas program that you can listen to straight through without fear, combining the delight of discovery—new composers, new music and texts, new arrangements of traditional carols—with the comfort and joy of a few beloved, favorite, familiar anchors, from Joubert’s There is no rose and Howells’ A spotless rose, to Warlock’s Bethlehem Down.
Beginning with Malcolm Archer’s A little child there is yborn, its bouncy, jovial character reminiscent of a John Rutter setting, the program progresses through a wide array of traditional texts and sometimes tunes—The angel Gabriel; In the bleak midwinter; Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; The Holly and the Ivy; Coventry Carol—but in inventive and always agreeable new realizations by composers and arrangers such as Paul Spicer (whose In a Field as I Lay is a highlight), Gareth Treseder (Blessed be that Maid Marie—another gem), Michael Higgins, Becky McGlade, Betty Roe, and Sally Beamish. And it doesn’t hurt that the singing by the 17 voices of Sonoro—yes, a professional British chamber choir—is consistently well-tuned, perfectly balanced, and projects a vibrant, characterful sound that gives the impression of concert-like spontaneity—a rare and welcome effect on a recording. The sooner you get this the more time you’ll have to listen. Highly recommended.
– ClassicsToday.com
I Sing The Birth / New York Polyphony
Avie Records
CD
$19.99
Mar 01, 2008
There may be a better vocal Christmas disc to come along this season, but it would have to be awfully impressive to best this beautifully sung, imaginatively programmed effort from the male-quartet New York Polyphony. As the liner notes point out, Christmas uniquely brings together a hugely diverse range of musical styles and traditions, and this program reflects that diversity while maintaining the integrity of a unified program, in both atmosphere (amazingly, recorded in a church in the middle of New York!) and in the prevailing medieval/Renaissance sensibility of even the modern pieces. Of course the four singers have much to do with creating and sustaining the mood and imbuing the works with particular interpretive flavor--these are ideally matched, sensitively balanced voices, warm yet vibrant in the tradition of groups such as the Hilliard Ensemble. And the singing is impeccable--the breathing, the phrasing, all of the ensemble work shows musicians at one with each other and with the music at hand.
The repertoire is unusual, but not just for the sake of offering something "different"; there is purpose here in revealing the threads of early chant, medieval harmony, and Renaissance polyphony strung through to the most recent works, including one commissioned for this recording. Even ancient texts appear in the more modern pieces, including Kenneth Leighton's Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child, the only selection on the program (other than the "Coventry Carol") that enjoys a relatively frequent presence on today's Christmas choral concerts and recordings. Here (and on a few other pieces) the men are joined by three women, one of whom is original Anonymous 4 member Ruth Cunningham, and unlike most other renditions, this one seems inspired a bit more by the work's jazz-like elements. As for the Coventry Carol, the four men somehow manage to juice the famous points of dissonance with even more delicious bite than usual.
Other highlights include the opening number, Andrew Smith's ravishing recent setting of Veni Redemptor gentium, which begins with the chant but, almost before you realize what's happening, transforms to a marvelous harmonic texture that ingeniously mixes ancient and new. Palestrina's Hodie Christus natus est, Byrd's O magnum mysterium, and Cornysh's starkly-harmonious, lively-rhythmic Ave Maria Mater Dei are all sung with utmost sensitivity, clarity, and virtuosity. Parsons' Ave Maria is a masterpiece and in its simple way, so is New York Polyphony's very lovely setting of Away in a manger--a performance you'll want to repeat many times. In fact, that applies to this entire expertly recorded disc, which offers many more pleasures too numerous to mention here, but that hopefully you'll soon discover for yourself.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
American Classics - Anderson: Orchestral Music Vol 5
Naxos
CD
$19.99
Nov 18, 2008
Goldilocks strikes gold. Undeservedly neglected light music.
What a pleasure to hear such jolly upbeat music. Leroy Anderson’s Goldilocks music lifts the spirits right from the start. This, the fifth album in the Naxos Anderson series, concentrates almost entirely on his music for the 1958 Broadway musical. Alas it was not a success; it expired after only 161 performances. The book took most of the blame. The show’s title Goldilocks probably didn’t help it much either and at that time there was a lot of competition on Broadway including: West Side Story, The Music Man and My Fair Lady. But Leroy Anderson’s music was mostly praised.
The Goldilocks Overture sparkles; all the excerpt numbers are little gems. ‘One Good Kiss Deserves Another’ has a winning melody. William Dazely singing nicely in the ballad style of the period and is joined by a nicely coy Kim Criswell. ‘Shall I Take My Heart and Go’ is another lovely, dreamily-romantic ballad. This number is also reprised separately as an instrumental item. These two songs alone, one feels, should have ensured the success of Goldilocks especially as presented here. But this 70+ reviewer is an unashamed romantic and a lover of the musicals of this period.
Additionally there is: ‘The Pussy Foot’, a terrific swing number that will set your feet a-tapping. The ‘Pirate Dance’ bounces cheekily along, tongue-in-cheek redolent of all those Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn swashbucklers of that period. The droll ‘Who’s Been Sitting in My Chair’ is quite unlike Eric Coates’s Three Bears, rather it begins in Old-English rustic style before developing into a burlesque-like number - apparently in the show Maggie actually dances to it with a guy in a bear suit. The memorable ‘The Lady-in-Waiting Ballet’ is a quintessential Leroy Anderson with its sweeping, swinging waltz tune. ‘The Lady in Waiting Waltz’ (played later, separately) glistens and it has witty allusions to Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel and Der Rosenkavalier. ‘The Town Maxixe’ is an easy-going number that swings along interrupted by material reminiscent of old-style madrigal tunes. ‘I Never Knew When’ is another appealing romantic ballad, but without vocals, beginning almost Arabian Nights-like before developing into smoochiness. The ‘Pyramid Dance’ is all exuberance, bouncing and rushing along, a sort of mix of Khachaturian and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Followers of the reviews of the preceding four volumes in this series will no doubt remember that Leroy Anderson arranged a number of suites of carols for different combinations of instruments - the others were for strings and brass. This collection,
for wind instruments, comprises: ‘Angels in our Fields’, ‘O Sanctissima’; ‘O come, O come Emmanuel, O come’ (an inspired little pastorale); ‘Little Children’; ‘Coventry Carol’; and ‘Patapan’.
As before Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra offer polished, genial readings full of joie de vivre.
Goldilocks strikes gold. Undeservedly neglected light music.
-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International
What a pleasure to hear such jolly upbeat music. Leroy Anderson’s Goldilocks music lifts the spirits right from the start. This, the fifth album in the Naxos Anderson series, concentrates almost entirely on his music for the 1958 Broadway musical. Alas it was not a success; it expired after only 161 performances. The book took most of the blame. The show’s title Goldilocks probably didn’t help it much either and at that time there was a lot of competition on Broadway including: West Side Story, The Music Man and My Fair Lady. But Leroy Anderson’s music was mostly praised.
The Goldilocks Overture sparkles; all the excerpt numbers are little gems. ‘One Good Kiss Deserves Another’ has a winning melody. William Dazely singing nicely in the ballad style of the period and is joined by a nicely coy Kim Criswell. ‘Shall I Take My Heart and Go’ is another lovely, dreamily-romantic ballad. This number is also reprised separately as an instrumental item. These two songs alone, one feels, should have ensured the success of Goldilocks especially as presented here. But this 70+ reviewer is an unashamed romantic and a lover of the musicals of this period.
Additionally there is: ‘The Pussy Foot’, a terrific swing number that will set your feet a-tapping. The ‘Pirate Dance’ bounces cheekily along, tongue-in-cheek redolent of all those Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn swashbucklers of that period. The droll ‘Who’s Been Sitting in My Chair’ is quite unlike Eric Coates’s Three Bears, rather it begins in Old-English rustic style before developing into a burlesque-like number - apparently in the show Maggie actually dances to it with a guy in a bear suit. The memorable ‘The Lady-in-Waiting Ballet’ is a quintessential Leroy Anderson with its sweeping, swinging waltz tune. ‘The Lady in Waiting Waltz’ (played later, separately) glistens and it has witty allusions to Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel and Der Rosenkavalier. ‘The Town Maxixe’ is an easy-going number that swings along interrupted by material reminiscent of old-style madrigal tunes. ‘I Never Knew When’ is another appealing romantic ballad, but without vocals, beginning almost Arabian Nights-like before developing into smoochiness. The ‘Pyramid Dance’ is all exuberance, bouncing and rushing along, a sort of mix of Khachaturian and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Followers of the reviews of the preceding four volumes in this series will no doubt remember that Leroy Anderson arranged a number of suites of carols for different combinations of instruments - the others were for strings and brass. This collection,
for wind instruments, comprises: ‘Angels in our Fields’, ‘O Sanctissima’; ‘O come, O come Emmanuel, O come’ (an inspired little pastorale); ‘Little Children’; ‘Coventry Carol’; and ‘Patapan’.
As before Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra offer polished, genial readings full of joie de vivre.
Goldilocks strikes gold. Undeservedly neglected light music.
-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International
Christmas Carols / Donald Hunt, Worcester Cathedral Choir
Naxos
CD
$19.99
Oct 29, 1993
Joy to the world, better known in the United States of America, is derived from Handel, and is based, initially and very simply, on the notes of the descending scale. The famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols established earlier in the present century at King's College, Cambridge, traditionally opens with the singing in procession of the Victorian Once in royal David's city, a setting by the nineteenth century English organist Henry John Gauntlett of words by Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander. Gauntlett nearly became a pupil of Mozart's pupil and Mendelssohn's friend Attwood, but instead turned to the law, and practiced as a solicitor. He took lessons, however, from Samuel Wesley, and played the organ in the first Birmingham performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. O little town of Bethlehem is by Walford Davies with words by the nineteenth century American Bishop Philips Brooks, while The Cherry Tree Carol has a traditional English origin, the folk-tune here arranged by Donald Hunt. In the bleak mid-winter, a setting of a poem by Christina Rossetti, has music by Gustav Holst, who arranged the traditional Sing aloud. Away in a manger is equally well known in two different versions. The setting better known in England is that by the American gospel music composer William James Kirkpatrick. The tune for the anonymous words is here arranged by Donald Hunt. Joys Seven is another traditional carol, the setting arranged by Stephen Cleobury of King's College, Cambridge. I wonder as I wander, arranged by Donald Hunt, and Jesus, Jesus, rest your head, arranged by Arthur Warrell, are taken from Appalachia, a rich source of original folk-song material, inherited from early settlers. In dulci jubilo, a German fourteenth century Macaronic carol, alternating Latin and vernacular words, is sung in a familiar nineteenth century arrangement by the antiquarian English composer Robert Lucas Pearsall. O little one sweet is familiar in J. S. Bach's harmonization of a melody by his seventeenth century compatriot Samuel Scheidt. The Shepherds' Rocking Carol is of Czech origin, a Christmas lullaby, and Ding dong! Merrily on high, with English words by G. R. Woodward, uses a sixteenth century French dance tune. O come, all ye faithful, in it's English version, is of composite authorship, with music of probable eighteenth century provenance, arranged by David Willcocks. The Coventry Carol is taken from the fifteenth century Pageant of Shearmen and Tailors, lamenting at the same time the Massacre of the Holy Innocents and while advertising the Shearmen's own wares, scissors, knives and shears. As I outrode is an English traditional carol and Unto us is born a son, a Latin carol of the fifteenth century, appears in the well known German collection Piae Cantiones, published in 1582. The anthology ends with Mendelssohn's Hark, the herald angels sing, adapted by W. H. Cumming, from a festival choral composition, here arranged by David Willcocks and Donald Hunt's arrangement of Silent Night, it's original German words written by Joseph Mohr in 1818, with a melody of the same date by Franz Gruber. The music of Stille Nacht was written on Christmas eve, presumably for performance at Midnight Mass at the church of St. Nicholas at Oberndorf, where Gruber was organist and choirmaster. On this first occasion the organ broke down, and a guitar was used in accompaniment.
