For those unaware, on November 29th, 2024, AVIE Records will release A Lullaby Carol: Christmas from Christ Church from the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

The program includes traditional and contemporary works, celebrating the choir’s rich musical heritage alongside its commitment to new music.

As the director Steven Grahl himself observes within the liner notes, the album begins with ‘Make we joy now in this fest,’ written by one of Christ Church’s most famous sons, Sir William Walton. Like his other carol on the album, ‘All this time,’ it is a vibrant expression of the strophic carol form. Elizabeth Poston’s ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ follows, offering a moment of reflection in its simplicity.

Francis Pott’s ‘Improvisation on Adeste, fideles’ is an inventive reimagining of the familiar Christmas carol. David Maw, a distinguished lecturer in music at Christ Church, offers similarly fresh and bold settings of ‘I Saw Three Ships,’ ‘Away in a Manger,’ and ‘Lullay, lullay, litel child.’

The recording features three settings by recent organists of Christ Church: Simon Preston’s ‘There is no rose,’ Stephen Darlington’s arrangement of ‘Silent night! Holy night!,’ and Grahl’s own setting of ‘O nata lux.’

Judith Weir’s iconic responses to Advent- and Christmas-tide texts, Robert L. Morris’s ‘Glory to the newborn King,’ and George Baker’s exhilarating ‘Toccata-Gigue on the Sussex Carol’ are firm favorites in the Christ Church repertoire.

A former Lay Clerk of the choir, Piers Connor Kennedy’s carols ‘A Spotless Rose,’ ‘Epiphany’ and ‘little tree’ are each marked by his lyrical and harmonic sophistication. Works by Peter Warlock, who studied at Christ Church, sit alongside Giles Swayne’s ‘Magnificat,’ written for this choir in 1982. Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s setting of ‘Good Day, Sir Christemas!’ closes the program.

1. WILLIAM WALTON (1902–1983)
Make we joy now in this fest
2. ELIZABETH POSTON (1905–1987)
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
3. SIMON PRESTON (1938–2022)
There is no rose
4. GILES SWAYNE (b. 1946)
Magnificat
5. PIERS CONNOR KENNEDY (b. 1991)
A Spotless Rose
6. WILLIAM WALTON
All this time
7. JUDITH WEIR (b. 1954); arr. David Maw (b. 1967)
Drop down, ye heavens, from above
8. TRADITIONAL; arr. David Maw
I Saw Three Ships
Away in a Manger
9. GEORGE BAKER (b. 1951)
Toccata-Gigue on the Sussex Carol
10. DAVID MAW (b. 1967)
Lullay, lullay, litel child
11. PETER WARLOCK (1894–1930)
Benedicamus Domino
12. PIERS CONNOR KENNEDY
little tree - words: e e cummings (1894–1962)
Epiphany - words: Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)
13. FRANZ XAVIER GRUBER (1787–1863); arr. Stephen Darlington (b. 1952)
words: Josef Mohr (1792–1848), transl. John F. Young (1820–1885)
Silent night! Holy night!
14. STEVEN GRAHL (b. 1979)
O nata lux
15. JUDITH WEIR
Illuminare, Jerusalem
16. FRANCIS POTT (b. 1957)
Improvisation on Adeste, fideles
17. SPIRITUAL; arr. Robert L. Morris (b. 1941)
Glory to the newborn King
18. PETER WARLOCK; words: Bruce Blunt (1899–1957)
Bethlehem Down
19. CHERYL FRANCES-HOAD (b. 1980)
Good Day, Sir Christemas!

This simply divine, veritably heavenly new recording opens on the dutiful harmonizing within Make we joy now in this fest, the gentler Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, the immaculately hued There is no rose, and the more emboldened fare of Magnificat, and then brings us the effortlessly immersive A Spotless Rose, the flourishing All this time, a shimmeringly dulcet Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and the peppy I Saw Three Ships along with the delicate gossamer that is sewn within Away in a Manger.

Along next is the stirring Toccata-Gigue on the Sussex Carol, the sturdy Lullay, lullay, litel child, the pleasingly melodic Benedicamus Domino and both the quietly ornate little tree and the livelier Epiphany, and they are in turn followed by a dutifully astute Silent night! Holy night!, a simply divine O nata lux, a delicately veiled rendition of Illuminare, Jerusalem, the set rounding out on the organ-driven Improvisation on Adeste, fideles, the spiritually-hued Glory to the newborn King, coming to a close on an affectable Bethlehem Down and the impassioned Good Day, Sir Christemas!.

www.chchchoir.org

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