Christmas Carols / Creed, SWR Vocal Ensemble
Details
- Composer
- VARIOUS
- Artist
- Creed
- Format
- CD
- Label
- SWR
- Released
- Sep 11, 2020
- Catalog #
- SWR19094CD
- UPC
- 747313909483
About
In Great Britain Christmas carols are an integral part of Christmas just like plum pudding and turkey, paper crowns and mistletoe. They are sung in all big cathedrals and churches at Christmas, first and foremost in the time-honored chapel of King’s College. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols- a Christmas mass featuring King’s College Choir, nine short readings and, of course, carols- has been broadcast live on the radio every year since 1928 on Christmas Eve. The a cappella choir SWR Vokalensemble belongs worldwide to the best choirs, renowned mostly for its exquisite performances of modern music. This album however contains traditional, centuries old Christmas Carols, arranged by British composers like Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Byrd, to name just a few.
REVIEW:
An entire program of English music recorded by a German choir doesn’t happen all that often, and a disc of “very English” Christmas repertoire may be rarest of all. However, the top-tier Stuttgart-based SWR Vokalensemble is one group for whom this sort of thing is not so unusual. In fact they’ve not only recorded several discs that feature works by British composers such as Britten, MacMillan, and Vaughan Williams (including his rarely recorded Mass in G minor); they’ve gone where even American choirs fear to tread, recording the complete choral works of Elliott Carter(!), ten of Ives’ Psalm settings, and a disc of American works that includes pieces by Cage, Reich, and Feldman.
The program itself, chosen with obvious care by one who knows his way around the repertoire, is marked by first-rate performances that stand solidly alongside similar offerings by this ensemble’s “native” British counterparts. As good as the program and performances are, potential listeners may find the disc’s curious, cursory title misleading: “Christmas Carols” does not accurately describe the program at hand. While the music is almost exclusively Christmas-themed, only perhaps three of the 19 selections (to be generous) could be labeled as “carols” in the traditional sense. Although the liner notes do include a very brief but informed history of the true carol, our attention is quickly directed to the “carol” as it’s come to be identified via inclusion in the popular annual carol service at King’s College, Cambridge: that is, virtually any choral piece—original or arrangement—with a sacred, Christmas-centered text. The programming here all makes sense when you know that conductor Marcus Creed is not only British, but was a student and former singer at King’s College.
Just looking at the list of composers, most of whom are as English as they come—Boris Ord, Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells, David Willcocks—and the works at hand, each one ingrained in the very soul of every English-speaking, Christmas-music-loving listener—sets you up for what you hope will be an hour of pure pleasure, born of the special traditions of a season that is uniquely associated with its music. And, be it from Germany or Lower Slobovia, it doesn’t matter: this program does not disappoint.
Whether you choose this for the iconic repertoire—Ord’s Adam Lay Ybounden; Britten’s A Hymn to the Virgin; Howells’ A Spotless Rose; Thomas Ravenscroft’s Remember O Thou Man; David Willcocks’ Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day; Elisabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the Apple Tree; Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter—or just for the world-class singing (hopefully both!), you can be assured of a listening experience that will endure many hearings throughout the entire season—and the next. This choir knows the music well and obviously enjoys singing it, demonstrating a mastery of both language and style.
The program’s one non-English-language work is Robert Parsons’ Latin-texted Ave Maria—a most welcome inclusion of one of the 16th century’s greatest masterpieces, and a highlight of the disc. Another plus: the all-too-rare inclusion of a list of publishers of each work (choral directors, take note). Highly recommended.
– ClassicsToday.com (David Vernier)
Tracklist 19 tracks
-
1 Adam lay ybounden 01:15
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Adam lay ybounden
- Duration
- 01:15
- Composer
- Boris Ord
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
2 Ave Maria 04:51
- Track
- 2
- Title
- Ave Maria
- Duration
- 04:51
- Composer
- Robert Parsons
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
3 A Hymn to the Virgin 03:24
- Track
- 3
- Title
- A Hymn to the Virgin
- Duration
- 03:24
- Composer
- Benjamin Britten
- Performer
- Kirsten Drope, Sabine Czinczel, Frank Bossert, Torsten Müller
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
4 A Spotless Rose 03:15
- Track
- 4
- Title
- A Spotless Rose
- Duration
- 03:15
- Composer
- Herbert Howells
- Performer
- Bernhard Hartmann
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
5 The Angel Gabriel (arr. E. Pettman for choir) 02:41
- Track
- 5
- Title
- The Angel Gabriel (arr. E. Pettman for choir)
- Duration
- 02:41
- Composer
- Traditional
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
6 Alleluya! A New Work is Come on Hand 01:51
- Track
- 6
- Title
- Alleluya! A New Work is Come on Hand
- Duration
- 01:51
- Composer
- Peter Wishart
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
7 8 Traditional English Carols: No. 6. The Truth Sent from Above 02:25
- Track
- 7
- Title
- 8 Traditional English Carols: No. 6. The Truth Sent from Above
- Duration
- 02:25
- Composer
- Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Performer
- Lisa Rothländer, Johannes Kaleschke
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
8 Hosanna to the Son of David 02:36
- Track
- 8
- Title
- Hosanna to the Son of David
- Duration
- 02:36
- Composer
- Orlando Gibbons
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
9 Coventry Carol 03:55
- Track
- 9
- Title
- Coventry Carol
- Duration
- 03:55
- Composer
- Traditional
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
10 The Lamb 03:39
- Track
- 10
- Title
- The Lamb
- Duration
- 03:39
- Composer
- John Tavener
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
11 The holly and the ivy (arr. H.W. Davies for choir) 03:18
- Track
- 11
- Title
- The holly and the ivy (arr. H.W. Davies for choir)
- Duration
- 03:18
- Composer
- Traditional
- Performer
- Dorothea Winkel, Kirsten Drope, Wakako Nakaso, Stefanie Blumenschein, Wiebke Wighardt, Sabine Czinczel, Johannes Kaleschke, Hubert Mayer, Ekkehard Abele, Bernhard Hartmann
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
12 Remember, O Thou Man 02:28
- Track
- 12
- Title
- Remember, O Thou Man
- Duration
- 02:28
- Composer
- Thomas Ravenscroft
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
13 Jesus Christ the Apple Tree 02:54
- Track
- 13
- Title
- Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
- Duration
- 02:54
- Composer
- Elizabeth Poston
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
14 This day Christ was born 02:50
- Track
- 14
- Title
- This day Christ was born
- Duration
- 02:50
- Composer
- William Byrd
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
15 Sing Lullaby 03:45
- Track
- 15
- Title
- Sing Lullaby
- Duration
- 03:45
- Composer
- Herbert Howells
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
16 Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (arr. D. Willcocks for choir) 01:42
- Track
- 16
- Title
- Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (arr. D. Willcocks for choir)
- Duration
- 01:42
- Composer
- Traditional
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
17 The Fayrfax Carol 04:42
- Track
- 17
- Title
- The Fayrfax Carol
- Duration
- 04:42
- Composer
- Thomas Adès
- Performer
- Lisa Rothländer, Dorothea Winkel, Stefanie Blumenschein, Alexander Yudenkov
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
18 In The Bleak Midwinter 04:48
- Track
- 18
- Title
- In The Bleak Midwinter
- Duration
- 04:48
- Composer
- Gustav Holst
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed
-
19 Ding Dong Merrily on High (arr. C. Wood for choir) 01:52
- Track
- 19
- Title
- Ding Dong Merrily on High (arr. C. Wood for choir)
- Duration
- 01:52
- Composer
- Traditional
- Ensemble
- SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
- Conductor
- Marcus Creed