Cambridge Singers / John Rutter

The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album

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AllMusic Review by James Manheim

This is the holiday disc of the year, a slice of merry old English tradition at its best. Reversing the usual American glee club order of things, conductor John Rutter and his Cambridge Singers open with seasonal carols and then, when listeners' ears have been limbered up by Rutter's own arrangements and those by David Willcocks and other figures from the English choral world, moves on to Renaissance pieces and modern compositions by Warlock, Tavener, Britten, Kenneth Leighton, and Vaughan Williams (the Fantasia on Christmas Carols). Even those cool to Rutter's own choral music will concede his skills as a conductor; the Cambridge Singers, at a perfect size between chamber choir and distant, vast cathedral group, sound both beautifully precise and sweetly lyrical under his baton. Rutter also contributes another of the disc's most attractive features; his liner notes are packed with enjoyable information and trivia that illuminate something of the paths familiar carols took to public consciousness, of how today's corpus of Christmas carols resulted from the combined efforts of folklorists, choir leaders, and compiler/editors of years past. "[L]ike so much of the best Christmas music," writes Rutter, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia "seems to encompass both mystery and joy." Much the same might be said of this top-notch seasonal collection, accessible to all yet filled with subtleties for the discerning.

Track Listing

Sample		Title/Composer	Performer	Time
	1	The Holly and the Ivy (English) Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	3:00
	2	Blessed Be That Maid Marie (English) Traditional / George Ratcliffe Woodward	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:39
	3	Wassail, O wassail all over the town!, carol ("The Somerset Wassail") Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:12
	4	Shepherds, In the field abiding (Tune: French) Traditional / George Ratcliffe Woodward	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:58
	5	The infant King (Basque) Sabine Baring-Gould / Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers feat: Caroline Ashton	2:54
	6	Quelle est cette odeur agréable? (Whence is that goodly fragrance?) (French) Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	3:30
	7	Gabriel's Message (Basque) Sabine Baring-Gould / Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers feat: Ruth Holton	2:57
	8	Still, Still, Still (Stille, stille, stille) (Austrian) Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:21
	9	Quittez pasteurs (O come away ye shepherds) (French) Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:30
	10	Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella ("Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle") Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:07
	11	Personent Hodie (On this day Earth shall ring) (Piae Cantiones) Traditional	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	1:53
L' Enfance du Christ, oratorio for soprano, 2 tenors, baritone, 3 basses, chorus & orchetsra ("trilogie sacrée") H. 130 (Op. 25)
	12	The Shepherds' farewell Hector Berlioz	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	3:44
	13	Cantique de Noël for voice & orchestra "O Holy Night" Adolphe Adam / Cappeau de Roquemaure	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	4:40
	14	O Magnum Mysterium, motet for 4 voices	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	4:07
	15	Hodie Christus natus est, motet for 5 voices & continuo (Cantiones Sacrae No. 13) Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:57
Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56
	16	For unto us a child is born George Frederick Handel	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	4:15
	17	In Dulci Jubilo Samuel Scheidt	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	3:30
	18	Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny Child, for soloist & chorus, Op 25b Kenneth Leighton	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers feat: Caroline Ashton	3:13
Friday Afternoons, children's songs (12) for children's chorus & piano, Op. 7
	19	A New Year Carol Benjamin Britten	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers feat: Karen Kerslake	2:21
	20	Balulalow, for voice & piano Peter Warlock / James Wedderburn / John Wedderburn / Robert Wedderburn	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	2:07
	21	I Saw a Fair Maiden Peter Warlock	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	3:06
	22	The Lamb, for chorus William Blake / John Tavener	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers	3:33
	23	Fantasia on Christmas Carols for baritone, chorus & orchestra Ralph Vaughan Williams	John Rutter / Cambridge Singers feat: Stephen Orton / Stephen Varcoe	11:29

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Cambridge Singers / John Rutter

The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album

AllMusic Review by James Manheim

Track Listing