In terra pax: A Christmas Anthology – Julia Doyle, soprano/ Roderick Williams, baritone/ Mark Williams, organ and piano/ City of London Choir/ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/ Hilary Davan Wetton, conductor – Naxos 8.572102, 70:56 *****:
Being an avid carol-lover, I always look forward to the time of year when the new Xmas treats come a-callin’. Fortunately this new Naxos disc has been dropped in my stocking a bit late, but a welcome addition it is. Nearly all of the performers here are new to the Naxos stable, and the combined effort is a fortuitous one.
These are lovely selections all, and I will mention only a few. The biggest piece here is Finzi’s In terra pax – Christmas Scene. The work uses a baritone soloist in the poetry of Robert Bridges, and then the choir enters with an extract from the Nativity gospel of St. Luke. The composer had profound memories of hearing the bells ringing across the Cotswolds at Midnight of Christmas Eve, and has translated those memories into a pastoral canvas of daring simplicity and the utmost tranquility. Kenneth Leighton’s A hymn of the Nativity is a warm and engrossing Renaissance paean by Richard Crashaw, involving and intimately alluring. And of course the Vaughan Williams Folk Songs of the Four Seasons, of which “Winter” is given here, a series of four carols set as only the agnostic composer could set them.
The rest of the tracks are an excellent blend of chorus alone, chorus with orchestra, sprinkled with the two outstanding soloists, all lovingly captured in The Lighthouse Concert Hall in Dorset and St. Paul’s Girls’ School in London. The orchestra plays very well indeed, and recording engineers Phil Rowlands and Andrew Lang have outdone themselves in the spacious and gracious sound. If this had been the only Christmas CD released last year, I would have been more than happy. Full texts of all the works in a truly first class production. Noel!
TrackList:
HOLST Christmas Day, JOUBERT There is no rose, MATHIAS Sir Christèmas, HOWELLS Here is the little door, A spotless Rose, FINZI In terra pax – Christmas scene, WARLOCK Three carols, LEIGHTON A hymn of the Nativity, RUTTER What sweeter music, GARDNER Tomorrow shall be my dancing day, MATHIAS A babe is born, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Folk songs of the four seasons – Winter
— Steven Ritter
