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Track(s) taken from CDA67576

O Rex gentium

composer
author of text
Great Antiphon for 22 December

Peter Morton (tenor), St John's College Choir Cambridge, David Hill (conductor)
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: 0 minutes 58 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)
On 22 December, O Rex gentium (‘O King of all nations’) was intoned by the Plumber, a ‘lead worker’, Mary Berry explains, who ‘seems to have been frequently dispensed from community activities, but among his other duties he was in charge of the coffin for funerals’.

from notes by Andrew Burn © 2006

Le 22 décembre, O Rex gentium («Ô Roi de toutes les nations») était chantée par le plombier, un «ouvrier du plomb» qui, nous explique Mary Berry, «semble avoir été souvent dispensé des activités de la communauté mais était chargé, entre autres, du cercueil pour les funérailles».

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

Am 22. Dezember wurde O Rex gentium („O König der Völker“) vom Plumber gesungen, einem „Bleiarbeiter“, wie Mary Berry erklärt, der „anscheinend häufig von seinen Gemeindearbeiten befreit wurde, zu dessen anderen Pflichten allerdings die Lieferung des Sarges bei Beerdigungen gehörte“.

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

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