Main performer: Andrew Parrott
Booklet languages: English
Time: 250:02
Release Date: 2007
Review
This box set, called Christmas Carols, includes all four discs originally released between 1987 and 1995 by
Andrew Parrott and the
Taverner Consort : Festive Music from Europe and America, Nine Centuries of Seasonal Music, and The Carol Album I: Seven Centuries of Christmas Music, plus its sequel, The Carol Album II: Seven Centuries of Christmas Music. The 66 pieces here mostly come from
The New Oxford Book of Carols edited by Parrott and Hugh Keyte, and, as can be seen from the disc titles, they cover all of shape and manner of what might very loosely be termed Christmas carols. There are carols for choir, for soprano, for guitar, for organ, for brass, and for what sounds like a consort of sackbutts; carols from early America by
William Billings , from sixteenth century Venice by
Giovanni Gabrieli , from thirteenth century France by anonymous, and from a tenth century nunnery by
Hildegard von Bingen ; carols you've heard all your life, like the traditional "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen," and carols you've never heard before in your life, like
Anton Webern 's Dormi Jesu. But no matter what, every track on all four discs proves surprising and every performance proves charming. Recorded in warmly atmospheric and very immediate digital sound, fans of recherché Christmas music will be delighted by this four-disc set. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
Performances
William Billings Methinks I See a Heavenly Host 2:58
John Foster While shepherds watched their flocks by night (A 2nd Collection of Sacred Music. York, ca. 1820) 5:23
Joan Cererols Marizápalos a Io divino ("Serafin que con dulce harmonía") 7:28
Francisco de Vidales Los que Fueren de Buen Gusto 4:16
Michael Praetorius Magnificat super 'Angelus ad pastores' (from Megalynodia Sionia) 9:15
Marc-Antoine Charpentier In nativitatem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Canticum, histoire sacrée for 4 voices, chorus, 2 treble instruments & continuo, H. 414 13:37
Edmund Pascha Gloria, for 5 voices & orchestra 11:51
John Francis Wade O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste fidelis) 4:51
William Billings A Virgin Unspotted 3:19
Michael Praetorius Work(s) (In dulci jubilo (a 16) Pars I)4:05
Louis-Claude Daquin Noël Grand Jeu et Duo, for organ 5:18
Anton Webern Canons (5) on Latin Texts for voice, clarinet & bass clarinet, Op. 16 (Dormi Jesu)1:12
Franz Liszt Adeste fidelis, for female chorus (incomplete), S. 49a 4:40
Thomas Tallis Hodie nobis caelorum Rex, motet for 4 voices, P. 92 3:24
Henri Mulet Noël 3:42
Tarquinio Merula Canzonetta spirituale sopra "Alla Nanna" (Curtio Precipitato et altri Capricii composti in diversi modi vaghi eleggiadri à voce sola 7:27
Christmas Traditional Angelus ad virginem (English) 1:27
Giovanni Gabrieli Audite principes, motet for 16 voices 6:17
Christmas Traditional Lute Book Lullaby ("Sweet was the song the Virgin sung") 2:35
Hildegard von Bingen O viridissima virga, antiphon 4:09
Franz Liszt Weihnachtsbaum (12), for piano (Paris version), S. 185a (Die Hirten and der Krippe (In dulci jubilo))4:26
Malcolm Bruno Burning Babe, for voice & lute 2:55
Arnold Schoenberg Weihnachtsmusik (Musique de Noël), for 2 violins, cello, piano & harmonium 5:13
Anonymous, Ritson Manscript Lullay, lullow: I saw a swete semely syght, christmas carol for 2 voices 2:29
Michael Praetorius Work(s) (In dulci jubilo (a 16) Pars II)3:42
Christmas Traditional O come, O come, Emmanuel (Veni, veni, emmanuel), carol 3:27
Franz Xaver Gruber Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Silent Night) 3:55
Christmas Traditional Il est né, le divin enfant (French) 2:10
Christmas Traditional Nova, Nova, Ave fit ex Eva 1:47
Christmas Traditional La Marche des Rois (Provençal carol) 1:49
William Walker The Babe of Bethlehem 2:40
Christmas Traditional Verbum caro factum est: Y la Virgen le dezia (Spanish) 1:42
Jeremiah Ingalls Glory to God on high (tune Redemption) 1:04
Anonymous This Endere Nyghth 4:45
Johann Sebastian Bach O Jesulein süss, sacred song for voice & continuo (Schemelli Gesangbuch No. 203), BWV 493 (BC F234) 2:03
Christmas Traditional Il est né, le divin enfant (French) 1:09
Christmas Traditional God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (English) 2:34
Christmas Traditional Lute Book Lullaby ("Sweet was the song the Virgin sung") 2:35
Christmas Traditional Quem pastores laudavere (Hohenfurth Manuscript, 1410) 1:57
Christmas Traditional Quando nascette Ninno (Neapolitan) 1:59
Matheo Flecha Riu, riu, chiu 3:28
Philippe Le Chancelier Gabriel Fram Heven-King 3:17
Lukas Osiander Christum wir sollen loben schon 3:02
Christmas Traditional Coventry Carol (2): "Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny Child" 3:22
Christmas Traditional Gaudete Christus est natus (Piae Cantiones 1582) 1:44
Anonymous Verbum Caro: "In Hac Anni Circulo" 2:21
Christmas Traditional Alleluya: A nywe werk, for chorus 5:50
Christmas Traditional The old yeare now away is fled (English) 1:51
Christmas Traditional Ding Dong! Merrily on High (French) 2:02
Christopher Tye While shepherds watched their flocks by night (Tune: Winchester) 2:24
John Henry Hopkins, Jr. We Three Kings of Orient Are 4:18
John Jacob Niles I Wonder As I Wander 3:03
Anonymous Qui Creavit Coelum 4:11
John Joubert There Is No Rose, for chorus, Op 14 3:58
Cesare Bendinelli Sonata for 3 trumpets (after "Joseph, lieber Joseph mein") 1:51
Anonymous All hayle to the Days 4:04
Sarum Chant Letabundus 3:43
Christmas Traditional Ther Is No Ros' (English, Trinity Roll, 15th c.), carol 2:41
Christmas Traditional Quelle est cette odeur agréable? (Whence is that goodly fragrance?) (French) 4:33
John Jacob Niles Lullay Thou Tiny Little Child 2:24
Christmas Traditional Procendenti Puero-Eya! novus anns est 2:38
Magnus Thomsen Sonata for 5 trumpets (after "In dulci jubilo") 2:17
Christmas Traditional The Lord at first did Adam make 3:56
Christmas Traditional O du fröhliche, o du selige, gnadenbringende Weihnachtszeit, carol (tune "O Sanctissima") 2:29
Christmas Traditional Lolay, lolay. Als I lay on Yoleis nigt (English) 7:46
Felix Mendelssohn Hark! the Herald Angels Sing (adapted by W. H. Cummings from Mendelssohn's Festgesang for the Gutenberg Festival) 5:14
