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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Few sounds are more evocative of a traditional Christmas than the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Here the group is heard in the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, recorded for the first time complete with both carols and lessons included. The repertoire isn't just traditional: there are a number of contributions by contemporary composers Thomas Adès, Judith Weir and John Tavener, all of which are probing, sincere, even personal examples of their art (and some are daringly liberated, harmonically speaking). As a record of this much-loved annual event, the album is entirely to be cherished, although the downside for some listeners--at least on repeated hearings--is that the entire service is heard with congregational singing included. --David Patrick Stearns
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A splendid Christmas program that's a winner all around,
By
This review is from: Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Audio CD)
I can't imagine the luxury of spending Christmas Eve seeing King's College Choir and Cleobury present their Christmas program, called "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols". This is no ordinary show. Anyone can put on a Christmas program, but this one is so good that words can't describe it. Few choirs can rival King's ability to make Christmas carols remarkable, the Cambridge Singers and Chanticleer being the only ones I can think of. The sound of the choir is phenomenal; the boys in the choir come closer to sounding like angels than any other choir I've heard. In the carols that are so familiar that we could sing along the whole way through, they manage to say something new, which can't be said about all the Christmas CD's I've heard, at least not to the same extent. If you think that the reciting of Scripture is going to be drudgery, you're in for a surprise. There's something heartwarming about hearing the boys and men recite their texts with wonderful British accents. (Yes, I'm American.) The hall makes their voices boom. Perhaps one of the best things about this disc is that while it features plenty of the old-time traditional carols, it sticks some wonderful new ones on, from Tavener, Rutter, and Ades. Rutter's "Dormi Jesu" knocked me over flat when I heard performed here. The purity of the boy's voices combined with yearning qualities in Rutter's music make this a must, particularly the very ending where Rutter takes us through some captivating harmonic changes. And Ades' Faryfax Carol is stunning in its own way. Much more modern in style than the Rutter, it evokes a world of mystery that is almost scary. I should quickly comment on the recording quality. Some people pick on EMI for delivering second rate sound. There's times when this is true, but not here. In fact, the sonic thrills on this album make for one of its greatest pluses. The choir is captured wonderfully, balanced wonderfully with the organ. The organ playing by Benjamin Bayl is almost as good as the choir's singing, and I listened spell-bound to it captured in top quality sound. In closing, this is a fantastic album that should brighten up the busy holiday season. Maybe sometime I'll be fortunate enough to attend this wonderful event live!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews) 47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Shining Star,
By Hal Lancer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Audio CD)
To the other fine and informative reviews here, I would add the following. Though the Festival service and the recording are 80% musical, the "lessons", which are brief scripture passages given moving dramatic readings by college personnel, are the backbone of the Festival and the riverbed through which the carols flow. There is a chronological order to the lessons, beginning in Genesis, and each musical selection is tied to the reading which preceded it. This synthesis makes listening to this CD a very spiritual experience that transports one well beyond what is felt listening to other recorded compilations of carols.The music is primarily drawn from traditional British Christmas repertoire. Well-known British composers over centuries and King's College's organists and music directors over the past century wrote or arranged most of the selections. Several texts are in Olde English or Latin. Three recent compositions are here, too, but the first priority of the Festival director is clearly the tradition and the history of this service and of Christmas in England. There is nothing, however, "musty" about this CD. The tempi are modern and sprightly where indicated, and the performances are transcendent. The Choir of King's College, directed by Stephen Cleobury, consists of 35 young men chosen by highly competitive audition, and they are among the finest choral ensembles in the world. A superb pipe organ played by Benjamin Bayl is the only supplement to the voices. The sound of the recording is a major improvement from radio broadcasts and earlier (now out-of-print) releases of this service. For this CD, the four-and-a-half hymns in which the congregation sings with the choir were recorded during services in December 1998. The balance of the recording was made in the same chapel in July 1999, without the congregation present, so the coughing and shuffling heard during live broadcasts and earlier live recordings is happily absent. The only small problem is that the reverberating acoustics of the chapel, though gorgeous, make many lyrics difficult to discern. Keep the booklet handy. Highest recommendation. 32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last,A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols on Disc,
By "nicholasnash" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Audio CD)
This is the first full recording of the complete Christmas Eve broadcast of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols ever to be made available. Previous recordings from as far back as 1949 have focussed on the music (because of the limitations of the recording media of the times), but here is the entire service, including opening and closing prayers and lessons drawn from the Old and New Testaments, read by the Dean of the Chapel, members of King's College, its choir, its related institution at Eton, and members of the community in Cambridge.The service has been heard on public radio stations throughout the United States since 1979 (I know; I produced the first and a number of subsequent broadcasts). The choir of men and boys traverses repertoire well known by those who have listened to the live broadcasts, and although that particular sound is still somewhat unfamiliar to American ears, for many of us the quality of the singing, along with the quality of the acoustic of the chapel make for an unforgettable experience. If the broadcast has become one of your holiday traditions, this recording will be a handsome addition to your collection of music of the season. 45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The complete Festival of 9 Lessons & Carols is wonderful!,
By Dale Dickerson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Audio CD)
Over the years, I have heard the service on the radio and heard many recorded versions. This CD is the best I have found. It is a joy from start to finish. I might not make it to Cambridge for Christmas, but I will enjoy the music for many years. So put the CD in the player, press play, and close your eyes. All is quiet. It is 5 PM on Christmas eve. Out of the silence a soft low song comes, "Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed..." A very special night has begun... |
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