On this release, the Sixteen contrasts the dramatic intensity of music by some of today's most admired composers with such traditional and modern carols as Boris Ord's Adam Lay Ybounden and Henry Walford Davis' version of O Little Town of Bethlehem. Much-loved classics appear on this album along with many others that, with time, will become classics. Every work on this album captures the joy and sincerity of the most wonderful of seasons. The album provides a perfect peaceful and uplifting antidote to the hectic pre-Christmas rush.

REVIEW:

Song of the Nativity is a fresh take on the holiday release with a unique structure of alternating traditional carol with pieces from the contemporary tonal choral school. The contemporary works are mostly English, but the program opens with the striking O magnum mysterium of the American Morten Lauridsen.

This program plays to the strengths of The Sixteen, with their capacity for a clean yet reverential tone. The overall effect is of a tableau of paintings, some simple and folk-like, some richly chromatic, with the traditional carols appearing as moments of utter clarity.

– All Music Guide