ENGLISH Christmas music began in 1918. That may be a slight exaggeration to be found in a programme note by John Allison in a new anthology called in Terra Pax, but it is largely true. In medieval times, carols were supplanted by chant, and Cromwell banned them altogether – indeed, even Christmas was outlawed at one time by Parliamentary decree. Festivity was out. Carols survived like folk music only in remote rural communities.
Christmas music looked up in Britain with the arrival at Prince Albert’s behest of the Christmas Tree in the 19th century and that was followed by European carols which have become the core of our musical Christmas – Hark the Herald Angels and In Dulci Jubilo from Germany, Silent Night from Austria and Adeste Fideles from Italy.
England started to look up with the publication in 1906 of The English Hymnal, edited by Vaughan Williams, and took a real step forward with the establishment, at the suggestion of the Bishop of Truro, of The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols by King’s College, Cambridge, in 1918, soon to become public property through the broadcasts by the BBC. And English composers were inspired.
The new record from Naxos contains a splendid collection. Gustav Holst’s Christmas Day is a marvellous fantasy based on favourite carols, and Vaughan Williams is represented by Winter from Folk Songs of the Four Seasons. There are the three carols of Peter Warlock including Bulalalow. Sir Cristemas and A Babe is Born by William Mathias, John Joubert’s There is no Rose and contributions by John Gardiner, John Rutter, Kenneth Leighton, Herbert Howells and the piece which gives the album its title In Terra Pax, by Gerald Finzi.
Most of the music will sound familiar and it is well sung by Julia Doyle, Roderick Williams and the City of London Choir and Bournemouth Orchestra under HIlary Davan Wetton. At budget price, this is a real winner.
Vaughan Williams also features on a new CD from the Liverpool Phil. The Piano concerto here played by Ashley Wass is something of a rarity, as it is not one of the composer’s best.
But amid the percussive music is some of great beauty and, in any case, this Naxos disc is worthwhile because of the inclusion of the English folk Song Suite and the complete Suite from The Wasps, including the famous Overture and the March of the Kitchen Utensils.
James Judd, conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, is in charge of what is, in total, a splendid disc, with authoritative notes by Andrew Burn.
From the canal comes The Manchester Camerata under Douglas Boyd continuing their Beethoven cycle. Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 the Eroica are given finely disciplined performances in excellent sound, recorded at the Bridgewater Hall and released on the Avie label. It is remarkable how this Orchestra has come up in recent times, and they add to their reputation and that of their conductor.
