These four a cappella settings, written at different times and for different circumstances, share in common a December theme, from the preparation for Christmas of ‘Advent Calendar’ to the ‘Gate’ of the New Year. The latter poem was made famous when King George VI used it as part of his Christmas broadcast in the dark war days of 1939. The two carols in the middle are amongst the most sung words in the Western world but set here in very different ways to the original familiar, strophic tunes.