Hyperion Records
Click album cover image to view the sleeve notes
NOEL2
Super-budget price sampler

Buy? £4.99

Recording details: Various dates
Various recording venues
Produced by Various producers
Engineered by Various engineers
Release date: October 2004
Total duration: 65 minutes 36 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

View sleeve notes/artwork

'Stephen Layton directs the performances and deserves major credit for the very high standards evident on this compilation' (BBC Music Magazine)

'This is a disc for listening to in peace, after the Christmas Day festivites are over and the visitors have gone' (Daily Telegraph)

A Christmas Present from Polyphony
Polyphony, Stephen Layton (conductor)
1
Silent night  [3:31]  John Rutter (b1945)
with City of London Sinfonia
Three Carol-Anthems  Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
2
No 3: Sing lullaby  [3:10]
3
All this time  [1:38]  Sir William Walton (1902-1983)
4
Ave maris stella  [3:36]  Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Weihnachtslieder, Op 8  Peter Cornelius (1824-1874), arr. Stephen Layton (b?)
5
No 3: Die Könige  [2:50]
with Robert Rice (baritone)
Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen  Arvo Pärt (b1935)
6
No 5: O Morgenstern  [2:27]
7
Magnificat  [7:04]  Arvo Pärt (b1935)
8
Nativity Carol  [4:50]  John Rutter (b1945)
with City of London Sinfonia
9
The Sussex mummer's Christmas carol  [1:46]  Anonymous - traditional, arr. Percy Grainger (1882-1961) & Dana Perna (b1958)
10
A Hymn to the Virgin 'Of one that is so fair and bright'  [3:12]  Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Three Carols, Op 25  Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988)
11
No 2: Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child  [3:13]
12
Away in a manger  [2:23]  John Rutter (b1945)
with City of London Sinfonia
13
O magnum mysterium  [6:40]  Morten Lauridsen (b1943)
14
Bethlehem Down 'When he is King we will give him the King's gifts'  [4:26]  Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Three Carol-Anthems  Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
15
No 2: A Spotless Rose  [3:21]
16
Chorale after an Old French Carol  [4:36]  Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
17
What cheer?  [1:06]  Sir William Walton (1902-1983)
18
Lullaby my Jesus  [2:55]  Peter Warlock (1894-1930), arr. Andrew Carter (b1939)
19
Shepherd's Pipe Carol  [2:52]  John Rutter (b1945)
with City of London Sinfonia
This delightful new collection, available at budget price, brings together favourite tracks from seven acclaimed recordings: Rutter, Howells, Britten, Warlock and others – the very stuff of Christmas.

For over a decade Stephen Layton and Polyphony have been astonishing London audiences with their Christmas concert series: ‘nothing crowns the year like the annual, exhilarating eve of Christmas Eve performance of Handel’s Messiah by the choir Polyphony under Stephen Layton’. Alongside extravagant oratorio performances, the group has presented a cappella programmes of Christmas music to audiences enthralled by the range of repertoire available. This compact disc brings together music from many of these acclaimed recordings.

Also included is a tantalizing preview of Polyphony’s forthcoming recording of Morten Lauridsen’s choral music (CDA67449).