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Track(s) taken from CDA67576

O come, O come, Emmanuel

composer
'Veni Emmanuel'; fifteenth-century French Franciscan Processional, National Library, Paris
arranger
arranger
author of text
translator of text

St John's College Choir Cambridge, David Hill (conductor), Paul Provost (organ)
Recording details: January 2006
St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: October 2006
Total duration: 3 minutes 25 seconds
 

Reviews

‘David Hill's Advent programme imaginatively mingles antiphons, carols, hymns and motets. Favourites alternate with relative rarities such as Edward Naylor's Vox dicentis: Clama, whose sumptuous sonorities unfold gloriously in the chapel's acoustic … the John's choir, fielding what sounds like a vintage crop of trebles, sings throughout with its trademark mixture of refinement and gutsy energy’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘This recording holds some of the most exquisite choral singing I have ever heard. They must be one of the finest choirs in England. Not only is the technical standard dazzlingly high, but the readings are engaging, animated and sensitively shaped’ (American Record Guide)

‘Blend, balance, intonation and diction are all unfailingly top-drawer, and the choir's unanimity of phrasing and dynamic shading come across as something quite special … both engineering and annotation are well up to the same standard’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘This is a very fine disc indeed … the overall impression with which I’m left is one of great satisfaction and pleasure. The programme has been assembled with great imagination and the execution is well nigh flawless. When one adds in excellent and very atmospheric sound, first rate notes and texts and translations, it all adds up to a very distinguished package indeed. I shall be surprised if I encounter a finer CD of Christmas music this year’ (MusicWeb International)
The words are based on the Advent antiphons and were first translated by J M Neale. Thomas Lacey, an editor of the first edition of The English Hymnal (1906) made the translations that are usually sung today. The tune was first noted in Thomas Helmore’s Hymnal Noted (1852) and its provenance may be traced to a Missal in the Bibliothèque Nationale of France. Here it is performed in the version that J H Arnold made for the 1933 edition of The English Hymnal.

from notes by Andrew Burn © 2006

Les paroles fondées sur les antiennes de l’Avent furent traduites pour la première fois par J.M. Neale. Mais la traduction habituellement chantée de nos jours est celle de Thomas Lacey, l’un des éditeurs de la première édition de The English Hymnal (1906). La mélodie, elle, fut notée d’abord dans Hymnal Noted (1852) de Thomas Helmore et remonte à un missel de la Bibliothèque nationale de France. Elle est interprétée ici dans la version établie par J.H. Arnold pour l’édition de 1933 de The English Hymnal.

extrait des notes rédigées par Andrew Burn © 2006
Français: Hypérion

Die Worte beruhen auf den Adventsantiphonen und wurden erstmals von J. M. Neale ins Englische übersetzt [deutsche Übersetzung: Heinrich Bone]. Thomas Lacey, ein Redakteur der ersten Ausgabe des englischen Kirchengesangbuches The English Hymnal (1906), fertigte die englische Übersetzung an, die heute gewöhnlich gesungen wird. Die erste uns überlieferte Quelle der Melodie stammt aus Thomas Helmores Hymnal Noted (1852), die Herkunft der Melodie lässt sich aber womöglich auf ein Messbuch in der Bibliothèque Nationale de France zurückführen. Auf der hier vorliegenden CD erklingt die Melodie in einer Fassung, die J. H. Arnold für die 1933er Ausgabe des English Hymnal anfertigte.

aus dem Begleittext von Andrew Burn © 2006
Deutsch: Elke Hockings

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