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Special offer. Sacred Music: A Christmas History & A Choral Christmas
Presented by Simon Russell Beale
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 5th December 2011
Together [Beale and Christophers] form a fascinating insight into the way Christmas music has developed over the millennia from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian...
Special offer. Sacred Music: A Christmas History & A Choral Christmas
Presented by Simon Russell Beale
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 5th December 2011
Together [Beale and Christophers] form a fascinating insight into the way Christmas music has developed over the millennia from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian...
About
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen join Simon Russell Beale for two special Christmas programmes that look beyond the familiar carols and festive songs to reveal two millennia of music and texts from across Europe.
Bonus Features include:
· Sacred Music Series One and An Easter Celebration DVD trailers
· 7 Bonus Audio Tracks taken from a selection of The Sixteen’s celebrated Christmas CDs
· Related Recordings by The Sixteen
· Artist Biographies and Images
A CHRISTMAS HISTORY
Simon Russell Beale takes a journey through Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria as he explores how the sound of Christmas has evolved in response to changing ideas about the Nativity. His story takes us through two millennia of music, from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian music to the stories behind Hark! The herald angels sing, Silent Night and In the bleak midwinter, and the work of popular Christmas composer, John Rutter all performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen.
A CHORAL CHRISTMAS
Simon Russell Beale introduces a programme of choral music for Christmas from across the centuries, featuring performances of some of the works featured in the accompanying documentary. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, perform music including J.S. Bach's harmonisation of the medieval carol In dulci jubilo, A spotless rose by Herbert Howells and the Christmas text O magnum mysterium, set as a motet by Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Contents and tracklist
- Medieval carol
- The Sixteen
- Harry Christophers
- Medieval carol
- The Sixteen
- Harry Christophers
Spotlight on this release
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Christmas roundup
5th Dec 2011
Arthur Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël from Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic, Vaughan Williams from Derek Welton and Iain Burnside, traditional carols from St. John’s College Cambridge, and an eclectic retelling of the Christmas story courtesy of Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices.
Awards and reviews
-
Presto Recording of the Week5th December 2011
5th December 2011
Together [Beale and Christophers] form a fascinating insight into the way Christmas music has developed over the millennia from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian music to the music of the ever-popular John Rutter. En route they journey throughout Europe looking beyond the familiar carols and exploring the rich variety and range of Christmas-inspired music throughout history.
14th December 2011
it’s a worthy potted history of Christmas music. Simon Russell Beale is an engaging frontman, largely as he appears to know what he’s taking about rather than blankly reading from an autocue. And the musical extracts are well chosen, notably the third-century Oxyrhynchus hymn, the earliest known preserved piece of Christian music.
