Robert LLOYD
Drop down ye heavens [6:24]
English Trad.
Lo! He comes with clouds descending [3:36]
Boris ORD
Adam lay ybounden [1:27]
George GUEST
The Lord at first did Adam make [5:05]
Johannes BRAHMS
Es ist das Heil uns kommen her [5:50]
Herbert HOWELLS
A Spotless Rose [3:22]
Elizabeth MACONCHY
There is no Rose [1:51]
Felix MENDELSSOHN
Ave Maria [6:15]
Benjamin BRITTEN
A Hymn to the Virgin [3:18]
Patrick HADLEY
I sing of a maiden [3:53]
Gustav HOLST
This have I done for my true love [5:55]
Herbert HOWELLS
Magnificat (The Gloucester Service) [6:47]
Peter WARLOCK
Benedicamus Domino [1:33]
English Trad.
O little town of Bethlehem [3:35]
As Geraint Lewis
points out in his introductory liner-note to this evocative
disc, Cambridge is synonymous with Christmas for lovers of the
carol service. The broadcast of the Christmas Eve Festival of
Lessons and Carols from King’s College is for many the true
start of the Christmas celebrations proper, whilst the Advent
Service from St. John’s College, although perhaps not quite
as well known, is no less atmospheric. It marks the very beginning
of the gradual build-up of excitement and preparation for the
big day.
Nimbus’s celebration
of the St. John’s Advent Service is not a live recording of
the service itself. In fact it was recorded in the most un-Christmas
like months of March and July. It does however seek to re-create
the main elements of the service, with the various carols and
motets interspersed with lessons and readings that although
somewhat curtailed (the congregational elements of the service
are also entirely absent) lends a feeling of authenticity to
proceedings and preserves the essential character of the full
service.
Even on a CD recording
such as this there is also something of the sense of history
that pervades the service evident, a feeling that adds much
to a tradition that extends back many hundreds of years in its
origins. Dr. George Guest, sadly no longer with us and director
of the Choir of St. Johns for the forty year period from 1951-1991,
reads one of the Lessons whilst his haunting carol The Lord
at first Did Adam make, is one of the highlights of the
music.
Elsewhere, Richard
Lloyd’s gently ethereal Drop down ye heavens with its
combination of distant boys voices and full choir and organ
makes for an atmospheric opening to the service. Elizabeth Maconchy’s
setting of There is no rose is preceded by Howells’ exquisite
A Spotless Rose, whilst Patrick Hadley’s I sing of
a maiden, Britten’s youthful A Hymn to the Virgin
and Holst’s This have I done for my true love,
the latter a miracle of imagination in its scoring over eleven
verses, are all beautifully sung by the choir under Christopher
Robinson’s immensely experienced direction.
There is also no
shortage of staple favourites including the Boris Ord setting
of Adam lay ybounden. Ord will always be inextricably
associated with the King’s College Choir. This is a full blooded
account of the familiar advent hymn, Lo! He comes with clouds
descending. In conclusion there is O little town
of Bethlehem.
As a winter-warming
and haunting introduction to the Christmas season, recordings
come no better than this, especially when sung with the heartfelt
sincerity of the St. John’s Choristers.
Christopher Thomas
The Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge/Christopher Robinson
