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Christmas
Various composers

The King's Singers

Christmas

Price: € 13.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212050224
Catnr: SIGCD 502
Release date: 01 October 2003
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1 CD
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€ 13.95
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212050224
Catalogue number
SIGCD 502
Release date
01 October 2003
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

King’s Singers Christmas comprises 24 carols for each day of Advent, and a bonus 25th track which pays homage to one of their famous songs. Featured on the disc are such celebrated carols as Away in a Manger, specially arranged for the group and other traditional carols performed in their original versions.

Even though nearly every piece on this disc could be heard in an English church carol service, the variety of musical styles covered is immense. Five centuries of music are represented here including works from various different countries.

"As a group that spends much of its life on the road, we are fortunate to be able to gather music from many cultures and traditions beyond our own" says Gabriel Crouch. "Several pieces collected on our travels have found their way onto this playlist, including La Peregrinaçion by the Argentinian Ariel Ramirez, and the Polish-Ukranian song Szczo to za Prediwo, which we first heard performed by a choir from Warsaw at a King’s Singers workshop".

In addition to the choice of traditional Christmas carols we have chosen pieces by Peter Warlock, John McCabe, John Rutter, Bo Holton and our own Philip Lawson, as representative of the living tradition amongst English institutions for commissioning new carols. A King’s Singers Christmas album would not be complete, however, without a little musical twist or two. These are delivered in the form of Tchaikovsky’s The Crown of Roses which has been arranged by the great jazz arranger Jeremy Lubbock and a new version with Christmas words by Philip Lawson of the perennial King’s Singer’s favourite You are the New Day, sung to the accompaniment of a String Quartet.

Een muzikale adventskalender
King’s Singers Christmas bevat 24 kerstliederen voor elke dag van Advent. Plus een extra nummer dat een eerbetoon is aan een van de beroemde liederen van het ensemble. Ook al valt bijna elk lied op dit album in een Engelse kerkdienst te beluisteren, de variatie aan muzikale stijlen is immens. Hier zijn vijf eeuwen muziek vertegenwoordigd, waaronder muziekstukken uit diverse landen. Dit is wonderschone kerstmuziek, schitterend uitgevoerd door The King's Singers.

"Omdat we als groep het grootste deel van ons leven onderweg zijn, verkeren we in de gelukkige omstandigheid, dat we muziek kunnen verzamelen uit vele culturen en tradities, anders dan de onze. Verschillende werken, die we op reis verzamelden, hebben hun weg gevonden naar dit album. Zoals La Peregrinaçion van de Argentijnse Ariel Ramirez, en het Pools-Oekraïense lied Szczo to za Prediwo, wat we voor het eerst hoorden in een uitvoering van een koor uit Warschau.”, vertelt Gabriel Crouch, tweede bariton van 1996 tot 2004.

In aanvulling op de traditionele kerstliederen, is voor deze opname ook gekozen voor kerstliederen die - een echte traditie in Engeland - in opdracht zijn gemaakt. Een kerstalbum van The King’s Singers is niet compleet zonder een muzikale twist. Dat gebeurt bij Tsjaikovski’s The Crown of Roses, in een bewerking van de grote jazzarrangeur Jeremy Lubbock. En bij een nieuwe versie van de eeuwige favoriet van het ensemble, You are the New Day, met een kersttekst van Philip Lawson, gezongen onder begeleiding van een strijkkwartet.

The King's Singers is een Engelse a cappellagroep, opgericht in 1968, door zes koorleden van King's College. Het repertoire loopt van middeleeuwen, Renaissance, Bach tot Bacharach en pop. Vaak zingen ze eigen arrangementen. Het is één van de populairste vocale groepen ter wereld. Hun stijl kenmerkt zich door een academisch geschoolde uitvoering, met een harmonische vermenging en balans van de verschillende stemmen, zuivere toonvorming, perfect uitgevoerde ritmes en vaak geestige teksten.

Artist(s)

The King's Singers

THE KING’S SINGERS have set the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world’s greatest stages for over fifty years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, musicianship and versatility, which stem from both the group’s rich heritage and its drive to bring an extraordinary range of new and unique works, collaborations and recordings to life. The King’s Singers’ extensive discography has led to numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame. Over the course of 2023, the group has released three diverse, collaborative albums that showcase the breadth of their repertoire. One marks 400 years since the deaths of two great Renaissance composers, Thomas Weelkes and William Byrd. Another celebrates their body of commissioned music, including...
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THE KING’S SINGERS have set the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world’s greatest stages for over fifty years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, musicianship and versatility, which stem from both the group’s rich heritage and its drive to bring an extraordinary range of new and unique works, collaborations and recordings to life.
The King’s Singers’ extensive discography has led to numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame.
Over the course of 2023, the group has released three diverse, collaborative albums that showcase the breadth of their repertoire. One marks 400 years since the deaths of two great Renaissance composers, Thomas Weelkes and William Byrd. Another celebrates their body of commissioned music, including the six Nonsense Madrigals written for the group by György Ligeti (who would have turned 100 in 2023). And the third honours 100 years of Disney, with almost thirty brand-new arrangements of songs from its iconic films.
Growing the global canon of choral music has always been one of the group’s key aims, and The King’s Singers have now commissioned more than 200 works by many of the most prominent composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. These composers include John Tavener, Joe Hisaishi, Judith Bingham, Eric Whitacre, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki and Toru Takemitsu. All of this new music joins their unique body of close-harmony and a cappella arrangements, including those by individual King’s Singers past and present.
The King’s Singers were officially formed in 1968 when six recent choral scholars from King’s College, Cambridge gave a concert at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. By chance, the group was made up of two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has stuck to this singular formation ever since that debut.
Alongside their demanding performing and recording schedule – with over 100 concerts worldwide every season – the group also leads educational workshops and residential courses across the globe, working with both ensembles and individuals on their approaches to group singing. To mark their 50th anniversary in 2018, they founded The King’s Singers Global Foundation in the USA to provide a platform to support the creation of new music across multiple disciplines, to coach a new generation of performers, and to provide musical opportunities to people of all backgrounds.

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Composer(s)

Press

Play album Play album
01.
Veni, veni Emmanuel
03:05
(Traditional) The King's Singers
02.
Angelus ad Virginem
01:58
(Traditional) The King's Singers
03.
This is the truth sent from above
02:39
(Traditional) The King's Singers
04.
Wie Schon leuchtet der Morgenstern
01:46
(Praetorius) The King's Singers
05.
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen
02:44
(Praetorius) The King's Singers
06.
There is no rose
02:25
(Anonymous. Ed. Stevens) The King's Singers
07.
Coventry Carol
02:45
(Anonymous) The King's Singers
08.
Nowell sing we now
03:53
(Bo Holten ed. The King's Singers) The King's Singers
09.
Remember, O thou man
03:10
(Ravenscroft) The King's Singers
10.
In dulci jubilo
00:56
(Johann Sebastian Bach) The King's Singers
11.
Lullay my liking
04:27
(Philip Lawson) The King's Singers
12.
Bogoroditsye Dyevo
01:04
(Arvo Part) The King's Singers
13.
The Lamb
03:23
(John Tavener) The King's Singers
14.
Maria durch ein Dornwald ging
03:40
(Traditional) The King's Singers
15.
O little one sweet
02:12
(Johann Sebastian Bach) The King's Singers
16.
Bethlehem Down
03:59
(Peter Warlock) The King's Singers
17.
The Crown of Roses
03:12
(Tchaikovsky arr. Lubbock) The King's Singers
18.
To us in Bethlem City
02:48
(John McCabe) The King's Singers
19.
Szczo to za prediwo
02:23
(Trad. Arr. Barwinski) The King's Singers
20.
There is a flower
03:54
(John Rutter) The King's Singers
21.
La Peregrinacion
03:09
(Ramirez arr. Knight) The King's Singers
22.
Away in a manger
02:33
(Melody W. J. Kirkpatrick arr. Lawson) The King's Singers
23.
Noel nouvelet
02:23
(Traditional) The King's Singers
24.
Stille Nacht
03:17
(Gruber arr. Rutter) The King's Singers
25.
Born on a New Day
02:49
(David arr. Knight / Lawson) The King's Singers
show all tracks

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