Advent Carols (2019)

Every December, over a thousand people attend the Advent Carol service in the Chapel of King's College London, which is repeated over three nights to meet demand.

This album offers a snapshot of one such service, with its characteristic mix of plainchant, seasonal hymns and polyphony old and new. The Great 'O' Antiphons (sung according to medieval Sarum practice) provide the backbone, pointing inexorably towards the Christmas birth.

A brace of premiere recordings centres on composers with personal connections to King's, and is complemented by current Professor of Composition George Benjamin's rarely heard setting of a prophetic text after Isaiah. It intensifies the mood of heightened expectation propert to this very special season, and reminds us that something truly extraordinary is about to happen.

Buy the Advent Carols (2019) CD 

Track listing

1. Advent Prose: Drop down, ye heavens, from above [4:46]
2. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Canite tuba [5:10]
3. Antiphon: O Sapientia [0:47]
4. Philip Moore Sancte et sapienter [4:10]
5. Antiphon: O Adonai [0:50]
6. Orlande de Lassus Ad to Domine levavi [4:05]
7. Antiphon: O Radix Jesse [0:49]
8. Joel Rust O Radix Jesse [4:56]
9. Antiphon:O Clavis David [1:00]
10. William Byrd Tollite portas [1:45]
11. Lo! he comes with clouds descending [4:14]
12. Antiphon: O Oriens [0:44]
13. Cecilia McDowall Advent Moon [5:00]
14. Antiphon: O Rex Gentium [0:46]
15. George Benjamin 'Twas in the year that King Uzziah died [7:09]
16. Antiphon:O Emmanuel [0:45]
17. William Byrd Laetentur caeli [2:37]
18. O come, O come, Emmanuel [4:51]
19. Antiphon:O Virgo virginum [1:02]
20. Kerensa Briggs Magnificat (Gloucester Service) [6:27]
21. Hildegard of Bingen O frondens virga [2:56]

Total playing time [64:56] - Tracks 4, 8, 13 & 20 are premiere recordings