|
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Contents:
The title of ‘Noël Nouvelet’ given to this, the Vasari Singers’ first collection of Christmas carols on CD, was carefully chosen. When assembling the programme around this title, we interpreted the word ‘Nouvelet’ in its broadest sense, accepting the wider translations of ‘new’, ‘novel’ or even ‘novelty’. A traditional Christmas then but with a fresh, modern twist – just the image of the CD front cover. From our very earliest Christmas concerts back in the early 1980s, when we regularly performed to capacity audiences in Holy Trinity, Clapham Common as part of the seasonal celebrations of the nearby Trinity Hospice, our aim was to mix the most traditional elements of the Christmas repertory with the less familiar, creating interesting and novel juxtapositions. We adopted the same approach when singing Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in Westminster Abbey, something in which we were delighted to participate for successive years. More recently we have established a regular concert at St Paul’s, Covent Garden (the Actors’ Church) in association with the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, a collaboration we especially enjoy. Plenty then in our concert programmes from the ubiquitous green and orange books (aka Carols for Choirs, Books 1 and 2), David Willcocks and John Rutter arrangements in abundance, but also valuable slots for the contemporary voice. The repertoire on our ‘Noël Nouvelet’ CD reflects that long-held aspiration to dress up the traditional in new clothes, and to blend tradition with innovation. So we have included carols that have become modern classics (the tradition of the future perhaps), Kenneth Leighton’s beautiful ‘Coventry Carol’ for example, and the vibrant ‘Tomorrow shall be my dancing day’ by John Gardner; composers such as Judith Weir (the haunting ‘Illuminare Jerusalem’), Naji Hakim (his exuberant version of ‘Ding dong! Merrily on high’) and Morten Lauridsen (his powerful ‘O magnum mysterium’). The ‘new’ also extends to premiere performances: Humphrey Clucas, an old friend of the choir, wrote a marvellous carol (‘Incarnation’) for one of our first Christmas visits to Westminster Abbey, though for this recording we chose his charming ‘Love came down at Christmas’. Jonathan Rathbone’s ‘Corpus Christi Carol’ was given its world premiere performance by us; both appear on CD for the first time here. And the ‘novel’ (or perhaps more accurately ‘novelty’) from our title refers to the lighter side of our Christmas fare: the close harmony and blues arrangements which we enjoy so much. Ward Swingle is a patron of the choir so we were delighted that he released from his private archive for us alone his wonderful arrangement of Mel Tormé’s ‘Christmas Song’. This sits beautifully alongside Jonathan Rathbone’s sumptuous arrangement of ‘Silent Night’ and Nigel Short’s equally lush adaptation of ‘Away in a manger’. Into the lighter mix went Sir Malcolm Sargent’s evocative arrangement of the ‘Hawaiian Lullaby’ and Andrew Carter’s firmly tongue-in-cheek showpiece arrangement of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ – the latter two carols also world premiere recordings. As with all our Christmas concerts, we hope you will find plenty to enjoy in this combination of carols ancient yet modern and that it soon becomes a firm festive favourite. © Jeremy Backhouse, 2007
Page revised Thursday November 08 2007 |
