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CDA67443
Recording details: July 2003
St Mary the Virgin, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: October 2003
Total duration: 71 minutes 6 seconds
St Mary the Virgin, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: October 2003
Total duration: 71 minutes 6 seconds
'Rasping, rousing and riveting...the freshness and immediacy of the music and musicians are irresistible' (International Record Review)
'It is beautifully played and superbly recorded. A CD to gladden the heart with none of the usual clichés.' (Classic FM Magazine)
'Christmas cheer in abundance.' (Evening Standard)
The English Orpheus
Nativity
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
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As the season of turkey and stuffing looms in our minds, there could be no more homey a disc for Christmas than this unusual collection championing the village genius of local composers, whose settings of carols and hymns kept the congregations warm all those years ago - a time when the commercial excesses of today's Christmas were unknown. Modern clichés about community values have nothing in comparison to the humble pride and unity of villagers and townsfolk who gathered to sing settings that were the labour of love and skill on the part of the local composer or choirmaster ... or even excise officer! The foibles and fondness of community life combine here with all manner of interesting tastes in compositional technique, be it idiosyncratic fugal treatment or instrumentation designed to keep busy whatever musicians could be mustered. The organ on the recording dates from 1789 and the old temperament is used. |
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