COMPOSERS: Howells,Muldowney,Tavener,Vaughan Williams,Weir
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Carols by Muldowney, Vaughan Williams, Weir, Tavener, Howells etc
PERFORMER: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury
CATALOGUE NO: 686 0822
This is a live recording of King’s 2008 Christmas Eve service (readings included), the 80th since the BBC began broadcasting it. King’s College Chapel is a sizeable acoustic, but what’s specially striking is the intimacy of these performances, the choir under Stephen Cleobury excelling in the difficult art of dynamic restraint and truly gentle singing.
Vaughan Williams’s ‘Wither’s Rocking Hymn’ is a fine example, and includes some lovely solos. The purity of treble tone in Tavener’s ‘The Lamb’ and the flexibility of phrasing are also special.