Choir Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Owen Rees - A Ceremony of Carols

Published Wednesday 3rd March 2021
Choir Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Owen Rees - A Ceremony of Carols
Choir Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Owen Rees - A Ceremony of Carols

STYLE: Choral
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 180423-
LABEL: Signum Classics SIGCD627
FORMAT: CD Album

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This is a thoughtfully curated compilation taking us deep into the history of Christmas choral music while also presenting some interesting contemporary pieces. As we would expect from an Oxford Professor of Music, the liner notes by Owen Rees are an education in themselves and the musicianship demonstrated by the mixed-voice choir of The Queen's College, Oxford is first-class. The title piece is Benjamin Britten's 1942 setting of medieval and Renaissance texts with music that draws on plainchant for its inspiration. One of Britten's many strengths was his ability to find interesting texts and then write music that allows the words to speak. Think of the words as the picture and the music as the frame and then appreciate how the two just belong together. In this recording the upper voices of the choir are augmented by some beautiful harping from Lucy Wakeford, currently principal harp with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with Britten, the other featured composer is Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), the principal Lutheran composer of his day. Through works ranging from dramatic double-choir settings to the simplest harmonisations of chorales, this recording explores Praetorius as transmitter of older Christmas texts and melodies. The links between Praetorius's time and ours are represented in the pairing of his "Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen" and David Blackwell's exquisite reimagining of the same carol, "Lo How A Rose 'er Blooming". An Advent chant forms the basis of Judith Weir's haunting "Look Down Ye Heavens From Above" which opens the recording, while Cecilia McDowall's "Now May We Singen" perfectly captures the exuberance of its medieval text and Jonathan Dove's "The Three Kings" evokes the haunting strangeness of Dorothy L Sayers's reimagining of the story of the Magi. The musical journey we are taken on ranges from the 12th century with Hildegard von Bingen's atmospheric "O Virga Ac Diadema" ("O Branch And Diadem") here sung most excellently by soprano Olivia Hugh-Jones through to the 21st century with Dobrinka Tabakova's lively "Good-will To Men, And Peace On Earth" and Toby Young's enjoyable "The Owl". Throughout we have excellent singing of an interesting and wide-ranging selection of Christmas music that could be seen as ancient and modern but would be better described as timeless.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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