Gardner, John
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This superior seasonal disc, chiefly of carols (some with organ played by Luke Bond), is satisfyingly divided into three parts: Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Each starts with a plainchant,... —
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2019, Christmas Choice
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Ever the scholar, he takes a deep dive into Britten’s Third Suite…The performance itself digs deep. This is, as he says, a meditation on mortality. Isserlis makes it huge, and terrifying, fired... —
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Warm, confident interpretations from the Royal Holloway singers. —
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In Terra Pax
RecommendedA Christmas Anthology
Julia Doyle (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone) & Mark Williams (organ and piano)
City of London Choir & Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Hilary Davan Wetton
The gem here is Finzi's In terra pax… From late in Finzi's life, it is suffused with English pastoral yearning, and baritone Roderick Williams sings beautifully in the outer sections. —
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Presto Recording of the Week, 30th November 2009
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From the gorgeously shaped performance of Morten Lauridsen’s modern classic O magnum mysterium which opens the programme, to the urgent, ardent account of James MacMillan’s O radiant dawn which... —
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BBC Music Magazine, Disc of the month
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100 Years of Nine Lessons & Carols
RecommendedKing’s College Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury,Sir David Willcocks, Sir Philip Ledger
The opening track from 1958 sets the basic tone: the singing’s precise, sunny and rather dainty. Yet extra gusto soon arrives, and the modern carols Cleobury commissioned certainly stop tradition... —
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Presto Recording of the Week, 30th November 2018
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out of the bran tub comes my favourite Christmas choral disc of 2009 - Joy in the morning, another wide-ranging collection from Jeffrey Skidmore's excellent Birmingham-based choir, Ex Cathedra.... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 30th November 2009
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Special offer. Maw - Sinfonia
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, English Chamber Orchestra, Norman Del Mar
Maw’s Sinfonia (1966) is a superb half-hour essay, scored for small orchestra but big in every other way. Its inspiration seems to be the gently rocking motif used by Britten to link movements... —
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Special offer. Journey Into Light
Music for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and Candlemas
The Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge, Mark Williams
Another Oxbridge college, another fine mixed-voice choir, another gorgeously captured chapel acoustic (Mike Hatch engineering) - this selection of favourite pieces by mainly British composers... —
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this Advent showcase features conductors Andrew Nethsingha and George Herbert and, fascinatingly, three iterations of the choir, with and without female voices – and though the performances... —
