The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Christmas. A wonderful celebration. Outside the cold, inside the warmth. The conviviality, the atmosphere, the tradition. What better way to celebrate than with The Choir of St John’s College? World-famous for its ‘St Johns’ sound’: rich and warm. Since around 1670, these singers from the university city of Cambridge have been guaranteeing moving choral performances. The lower parts are sung by adults, but the soprano part is sung by children. These children are between 8 and 13 years old and are specially trained at St. John’s College School. The choir has put together a beautiful program for Christmas. It includes beloved early 20th-century Christmas carols, as well as deeply moving carols by living composers.

At the heart of the programme are beloved carols from the English twentieth-century tradition by Richard Rodney Bennett, Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, John Joubert, and William Walton. A joyous early Spanish carol will also feature, as well as deeply moving carols by living composers Jim Clements, Eleanor Daley, Philip Stopford, and Helena Paish. As well as hearing familiar Christmas favourites like ‘In dulci jubilo’, ‘Silent night’, and ‘The angel Gabriel’, you will have the chance to join in with ‘O come, all ye faithful’ and ‘Hark, the herald-angels sing’. The Choir of St John’s College performs the liturgy seven days a week in the Gilbert Scott Chapel. But it also tours worldwide, delighting millions of listeners over the years. In addition to quality, it attaches great importance to enjoyment: ‘What struck me most, however,’ wrote BBC Music Magazine, ‘was how much everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Program

Richard Rodney Bennett – Out of your sleep
Fredrik Sixten – Mary’s Lullaby (Silent night)
Peter Warlock – Bethlehem Down
Anonymous – There is no rose
Eleanor Daley – Christ hath a garden
Helena Paish – Angels we have heard on high
J S Bach – Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733
Traditional Basque melody – Gabriel’s Message (arr Jim Clements)
Traditional German melody – In dulci jubilo (arr Robert Lucas Pearsall)
Mateo Flecha – Ríu Ríu Chíu
John Francis Wade – O come, all ye faithful (arr David Willcocks)
Hans Leo Hassler – Verbum caro factum est
William Walton – All this time this song is best
Benjamin Britten – A hymn to the virgin
Herbert Howells – A spotless rose
Herbert Howells – Here is the little
J S Bach – In dulci jubilo, BWV 608 –
J S Bach – In dulci jubilo, BWV 729
Eleanor Daley – Love came down at Christmas
John Joubert – There is no rose
Philip Stopford – Lully, lulla, lullay
Felix Mendelssohn – Hark, the herald-angels sing (arr Christopher Robinson)