Chilcott Christmas Oratorio CD Booklet

BOB CHILCOTT

CHRISTMAS ORATORIO NEAL DAVIES

SARAH CONNOLLY

NICK PRITCHARD

CHOIR OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD BENJAMIN NICHOLAS

BOB CHILCOTT (b. 1955) CHRISTMAS ORATORIO

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Jesus Christ the apple tree

Part I

1. Lo! How a Rose, e’er blooming 2. The Angel Gabriel 4 3. Magnificat 5 4. Hymn: Thou whose almighty word 6 5. And it came to pass in those days 7 6. A Boy was born

Three Carols Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano, Mary Nick Pritchard Evangelist Neal Davies bass, Herod, Simeon Ciara Williams angel Tim Burton Gabriel

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3

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Part II

7. And there were in the same country shepherds 8. Hymn: Shepherds in the field abiding 10 9. And they came with haste 11 10. Love came down at Christmas 8

Choir of Merton College, Oxford

9

Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia Chloe Vincent flute Olivia Jageurs harp

11. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem 12. A Carol to the King 14 13. Hymn: As with gladness men of old 12

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The Choir of Merton College, Oxford gratefully thank Stephanie Ackler, David Lane, Robert Mitchell, David Theaker and Christopher Wood for their generous financial support towards the making of this recording. Grateful thanks also to The Reverend Canon Dr Simon Jones, Chaplain of Merton College and Elizabeth Casey, Choir Manager.

With thanks to the Warden and Fellows of the House of Scholars of Merton College, Oxford

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@ delphianrecords @ delphianrecords @ delphian_records

[5:22] [3:12] [3:26]

Part IV

14. And when eight days were accomplished 15. Nunc dimittis 17 16. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things 18 17. Hymn: A great and mighty wonder 15 16

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The Pear Tree Carol 20 Welcome, all wonders in one sight!

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Total playing time

[72.10]

19

Design: Drew Padrutt Booklet editor: Henry Howard Cover photo: Adriann Meyer / Unsplash Session photography: foxbrush.co.uk Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.com

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Part III

Benjamin Nicholas conductor

Recorded on 25-27 June 2023 in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford Producer: Jeremy Summerly Engineer: Jack Davis 24-bit digital editing: Jack Davis 24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter

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Christmas Oratorio

François Cloete organ

All tracks except 19 are premiere recordings

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Notes on the music Bob Chilcott has been at the forefront of British choral music all his life; first as a chorister in the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, returning as a tenor choral scholar and going on to join the King’s Singers for twelve years. Since then, he is been in demand as a composer, arranger and conductor, renowned for his infectious enthusiasm for singing.

Millions around the world heard his crystalline treble voice when he sang the opening solo verse of ‘Once in royal David’s city’ in three separate Christmas Eve broadcasts of King’s Nine Lessons and Carols. And his ‘Pie Jesu’ on David Willcocks’s defining 1968 EMI recording of the Fauré Requiem brought his very special voice into the record collections of innumerable music-lovers. A glance at that LP’s cover shows the thirteen-year-old Robert Chilcott sharing equal billing with established baritone soloist John Carol Case, an early example perhaps of the non-hierarchical nature of singing that so appeals to Chilcott.

This prolific composer says he writes because he wants people of all ages and abilities to experience the shared delight that singing with others can produce, and to enjoy the temporal, spiritual and social benefits it engenders. For him, finding the right inflection for the text is key, so that the performer – and therefore the audience – understands completely what the music is attempting to convey.

Chilcott’s Christmas Oratorio, recorded here for the first time, sprang from the success of his St John Passion, written for Wells Cathedral in 2013. He confesses that when the Passion was first proposed he was daunted by the shadow of the great baroque monoliths, but the idea that he could construct a narrative with a central storytelling Evangelist and incorporate hymns for the audience or congregation to sing appealed to him greatly, even though he had not written a hymn tune before.

Later, when he was commissioned to write the Christmas Oratorio, the same opportunity to build a narrative, peppered with hymns and centred around an Evangelist narrator, proved irresistible. It received its premiere at the 2019 Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral, conducted by Adrian Partington and performed by the Cathedral Choirs of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. Partington programmed it alongside other Christmas music, including Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, giving his audience an early taste of the festive season on a hot August evening. The soloists at that premiere – and on this recording – were tenor Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly (Mary) and bass Neal Davies (Herod and Simeon). One critic said it was ‘a palpable success … fluent and varied – and utterly new’.

The work is scored for soloists, SATB choir and an ensemble made up of flute, two

trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba, timpani, harp and organ. Its four parts tell of the birth of Jesus, the visitation of the shepherds, the journey of the Magi and the presentation to Simeon. One of the several refreshing innovations that feature in this work are its opening and closing ‘bookend’ hymns: Lo! How a Rose e’er blooming and A Great and Mighty Wonder, both set to a broad, sweeping tune that Chilcott entitled ‘Partington’ as a tribute to the oratorio’s first conductor.

(Further hymn tunes are dedicated to Geraint Bowen, organist at Hereford, Laura Jones, Chilcott’s editor at Oxford University Press, and Alexis Paterson, chief executive of the Three Choirs Festival).

We move straight into the narrative in The Angel Gabriel, with the Evangelist telling of the Annunciation, using text from St Luke’s Gospel. Throughout the piece, Chilcott chooses the harp to accompany the Evangelist, giving the instrument a rising, two-note figure at most appearances, almost like a news alert.

The writing for the Evangelist is song-like and lyrical, buoyed by the lightness of the harp, moving it away from the recitative style normally associated with the role. (Indeed, Chilcott considered a guitar accompaniment for the Evangelist to lend the music a folksong feel, before he finally settled on a harp.)

Gabriel, sung by a tenor from the choir, soon appears, telling Mary that she has been chosen to bear a son who will be called Jesus. Gabriel

is accompanied by the flute, which is heard whenever the text refers to angels.

In another innovation, and because the piece was to be premiered by three cathedral choirs, Chilcott decided to include settings of both the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis, reasoning that these canticles have been sung or spoken every day for centuries in cathedrals and churches at evensong and are central both to the service and to the Christmas story as told in St Luke’s Gospel. Chilcott gives Mary the Magnificat’s English text, her melody overlaying the choir’s singing of the same text in Latin plainchant.

John Marriot’s hymn Thou whose almighty word follows, set to ‘Bowen’, a Chilcott hymn tune in a swinging 3/4, with a descant for sopranos.

The harp heralds the return of the Evangelist in And it came to pass in those days, which tells of the journey to Bethlehem and tenderly relates the birth of Jesus, before Part I closes with A Boy was born, a gently expressive motet with ecstatic six-part alleluias, set to words from the German chorale ‘Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem’, translated by Percy Dearmer.

The flute reappears at the opening of Part II when the Evangelist tells of the shepherds abiding in the field. A soprano from the choir sings the sweepingly lyrical role of the Angel, introducing the ‘multitude of the heavenly host’ who sing ‘Glory to God in the Highest’

Notes on the music in six parts. The awed shepherds solemnly agree to hurry to Bethlehem to see the Christ child, an episode reflected in George Ratcliffe Woodward’s congregational hymn Shepherds in the field abiding, set to an expansively optimistic Chilcott tune entitled ‘Laura’.

The harp’s call to attention introduces And they came with haste, the Evangelist telling of the arrival of the shepherds beside the manger, before Part II closes with the melting lullaby Love came down at Christmas, Chilcott caressing Christina Rossetti’s tender text with a repeated rising fifth that passes from mezzosoprano soloist to choir and back again.

An urgent scurrying from the harp is heard at the start of Part III in Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. As we learn of the arrival of wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Chilcott gives the Evangelist an arc-like melodic figure that repeats several times in this section, pushing the narrative along. The tenors and basses split into three parts to demand: ‘Where is he that is born King of the Jews?’ before Herod summons the chief priests and scribes to ask where Christ should be born.

The choir answers excitedly, in an extensive, lyrical passage, quoting the prophecy that out of Bethlehem shall come a king to rule over Israel.

Devious Herod sends the wise men to find Christ, who follow the star to Bethlehem and – in one of the oratorio’s most intensely beautiful passages – the Evangelist lovingly describes the

wonder of the wise men and their presentation of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The warmth of Chilcott’s arrangements for the King’s Singers can be felt in the sophisticated harmonies of A Carol to the King, a motet that, like others in this piece, will surely enjoy a life of its own, independent of the oratorio, as choirs seek attractive new Christmas repertoire. The text is by Robert Herrick: ‘Tell us, thou clear and heav’nly tongue, Where is the babe but lately sprung?’

Part III closes with the congregational hymn As with gladness men of old, William Chatterton Dix’s familiar words set to ‘Paterson’, a trademark Chilcott hymn tune – easily accessible and pleasingly lyrical, complete with a cappella verse for choir and a rousing descant.

The harp and flute usher in Part IV, with the Evangelist gently telling of the naming of Jesus in And when eight days were accomplished.

He introduces Simeon, the ancient, devout man ‘waiting for the consolation of Israel’ who knows he will not see death until he has held the Christ child, the accompaniment slipping quietly into a major key, like sunlight flooding a room, when he enters the temple to meet Mary, Joseph and the babe. The bass soloist then sings Simeon’s song, the Nunc dimittis, in an expressive 3/4, with the choir quietly underpinning in four-square harmony until a

dramatic burst of joy on ‘A light to lighten the Gentiles’. The opening melody returns in the Gloria only to fade away in a series of pianissimo Amens.

We last hear from the Evangelist in And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things as the holy family return into Galilee, the music winding down to a mezzo-piano conclusion, before the final congregational hymn, A great and mighty wonder, and the return of the tune ‘Partington’, but this time with a new descant for sopranos.

Jesus Christ the apple tree is a highly flexible, simple setting of words taken from Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs, compiled

by Joshua Smith in New Hampshire in 1784.

Here it is sung by sopranos and altos, but as the score notes: ‘This piece can be performed as written, or can be sung in unison, two parts, or three parts at the discretion of the conductor or singers. The parts can be sung in any combination of voices, in the upper or lower octaves, and dynamics can be chosen for each verse.’ Included in Carols for Choirs 6 (OUP), which Chilcott has co-edited with David Hill, it’s a rewarding piece designed for church choirs that can’t always muster four parts.

Chilcott is principal conductor of Birmingham University Singers, and it was for them he wrote The Pear Tree Carol for their first concert after the Covid pandemic. The poet Charles Bennett,

who wrote the powerful text for Chilcott’s 2012 cantata Angry Planet, provided the words for this carol. They speak of gentle renewal after winter, the consolation of spring and the renewal of the human spirit. Chilcott writes a characteristically sensitive, arcing response to this text, with a quietly ecstatic chorus at the words ‘alleluia, res miranda’ (wonderful thing) and ‘gaudeamus’ (let us rejoice).

Welcome, all wonders in one sight! was commissioned as a present for James O’Donnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, to mark his final Christmas concert there in December 2022. It’s an unashamedly joyous, jazz-oriented piece, featuring brash harmonies, scrunchy chords (sometimes in eight parts) and intricate rhythmic patterns, with a luminous text by the seventeenth-century ‘metaphysical’ poet Richard Crashaw, welcoming the Christ child: ‘Great little one, whose all-embracing birth, lifts earth to heav’n, stoops heav’n to earth.’ © 2023 Stephen Pritchard Stephen Pritchard writes for The Observer, BBC Music Magazine, Choir & Organ, International Piano and Bachtrack, the classical music website. He trained at Portsmouth Cathedral and sings with the English Chamber Choir.

Texts 1 Jesus Christ the apple tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen, Laden with fruit and always green: The trees of nature fruitless be Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel: By faith I know, but ne’er can tell The glory which I now can see In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought, And pleasure dearly I have bought: I missed of all; but now I see ’Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I’m weary with my former toil, Here I will sit and rest awhile: Under the shadow I will be, Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive, It keeps my dying faith alive; Which makes my soul in haste to be With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

From Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs, compiled by Joshua Smith (New Hampshire, 1784)

Christmas Oratorio Part I 2 1. Lo! How a Rose, e’er blooming

Lo, how a Rose, e’er blooming From tender stem hath sprung, Of Jesse’s lineage coming As men of old have sung; It came, a blossom bright, Amid the cold of winter When half-spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, The Rose I have in mind: With Mary we behold it, The virgin mother kind; To show God’s love aright She bore to men a Saviour When half-spent was the night.

O Flower, whose fragrance tender With sweetness fills the air, Dispel in glorious splendour The darkness everywhere.

True man, yet very God, From sin and death now saves us And share our ev’ry load.

German, before 1600, ‘Es ist ein Ros entsprungen’, trans. Theodore Baker (1851–1934, vv. 1–2) and Harriet R.K. Spaeth (1845–1925, v. 3)

3 2. The Angel Gabriel

Evangelist

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Gabriel

Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Evangelist

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Gabriel

Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Evangelist

Then said Mary unto the angel, Mary

How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Evangelist

And the angel answered and said unto her, Gabriel

The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1: 26–35

4 3. Magnificat

Mezzo-soprano

My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is his name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel: as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.

Texts Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Choir

Magnificat anima mea Dominum: et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.

Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

Quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est, et sanctum nomen eius.

Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.

Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

Deposuit potentes de sede: et exaltavit humiles.

Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes.

Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae: sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper: et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Luke 1: 46–55 and doxology

5 4. Hymn: Thou whose almighty word

Thou whose almighty word Chaos and darkness heard, And took their flight; Hear us, we humbly pray, And where the Gospel-Day Sheds not its glorious ray, Let there be light!

Thou who didst come to bring On thy redeeming wing Healing and sight, Health to the sick in mind, Sight to the inly blind: Ah! now to all mankind Let there be light!

Spirit of truth and love, Life-giving, holy Dove, Speed forth thy flight!

Move on the waters’ face Bearing the lamp of grace And in earth’s darkest place Let there be light!

Blessed and holy Three, Glorious Trinity, Wisdom, Love, Might!

Boundless as ocean’s tide, Rolling in fullest pride, Through the world far and wide Let there be light!

John Marriott (1780–1825)

6 5. And it came to pass in those days

Evangelist

Part II

8 7. And there were in the same country

And it came to pass in those days, that there shepherds went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that Evangelist all the world should be taxed. And all went And there were in the same country shepherds to be taxed, every one into his own city. And abiding in the field, keeping watch over their Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city came upon them, and the glory of the Lord of David, which is called Bethlehem to be shone round about them: and they were sore taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being afraid. And the angel said unto them, great with child. And so it was that while they Angel were there, the days were accomplished that Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of she should be delivered. And she brought great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a because there was no room for them in the inn. sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in Luke 2: 1, 3–7 swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Evangelist 7 6. A Boy was born

A Boy was born in Bethlehem, Rejoice for that, Jerusalem!

Alleluia!

He let himself a human be, That all mankind he might set free, Alleluia!

Then praise the Word of God who came To dwell within a human frame: Alleluia!

German, sixteenth century, ‘Ein Kind geborn/Puer natus’, tr. Percy Dearmer (1867–1936)

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Choir (Angels)

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Evangelist

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another,

Texts Choir (Shepherds)

Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

Luke 2: 8–15

9 8. Hymn: Shepherds in the field abiding

Shepherds in the field abiding, Tell us, when the seraph bright Greeted you with wondrous tiding What you saw and heard that night.

Gloria in excelsis Deo. We beheld it (it is no fable), God incarnate, King of bliss, Swathed and cradled in a stable, And the angel strain was this: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Choristers on high were singing Jesus and his Virgin birth, Heavenly bells the while a-ringing ‘Peace, good will to men on earth.’

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Thanks, good herdmen, true your story, Have with you to Bethlehem; Angels hymn the King of glory, Carol we with you and them.

Gloria in excelsis Deo. George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934)

10 9. And they came with haste

Evangelist

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Luke 2: 16–19

Part III 12 11. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem Evangelist

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Choir (Wise Men)

Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Evangelist

11 10. Love came down at Christmas

Mezzo-soprano and choir

Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine, Love was born at Christmas, Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead, Love Incarnate, Love Divine, Worship we our Jesus, But wherewith the sacred sign?

Love shall be our token, Love be yours and love be mine, Love to God and all men, Love for plea and gift and sign.

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, Choir (Chief Priests)

In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, ‘And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.’

Evangelist

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said,

Herod

Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

Evangelist

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2: 1–11

13 12. A Carol to the King

Tell us, thou clear and heavenly tongue, Where is the Babe but lately sprung?

Lies He the lily-banks among?

Or say, if this new birth of ours, Sleeps, laid within some ark of flowers, Spangled with dew-light; thou canst clear All doubts, and manifest the where.

Declare to us, bright star, if we shall seek Him in the morning’s blushing cheek, Or search the beds of spices through, To find Him out?

Texts No, this ye need not do; But only come and see Him rest A princely Babe in’s mother’s breast.

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

14 13. Hymn: As with gladness men of old

As with gladness men of old Did the guiding star behold, As with joy they hailed its light Leading onward, beaming bright, So, most gracious God, may we Evermore be led to thee.

As with joyful steps they sped To that lowly manger bed, There to bend the knee before Thee whom heaven and earth adore, So may we with willing feet Ever seek thy mercy-seat.

As they offered gifts most rare At that manger rude and bare, So may we with holy joy, Pure, and free from sin’s alloy, All our costliest treasures bring Christ, to thee, our heavenly King.

Holy Jesu, every day Keep us in the narrow way; And, when earthly things are past, Bring our ransomed souls at last Where they need no star to guide, Where no clouds thy glory hide.

In the heavenly country bright Need they no created light; Thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown Thou its Sun which goes not down; There forever may we sing Alleluyas to our King.

William Chatterton Dix (1837–1898)

Part IV 15 14. And when eight days were accomplished

Evangelist And when eight days were accomplished, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said: Luke 2: 21, 25–28

16 15. Nunc dimittis

Bass and choir

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation: which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; to be a light to lighten the gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Luke 2: 29–32 and doxology

17 16. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things

Evangelist

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Simeon

Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.

Evangelist

And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.

Luke 2: 33–4, 39

18 17. Hymn: A great and mighty wonder

A great and mighty wonder, A full and holy cure!

The Virgin bears the Infant With virgin-honour pure.

Repeat the hymn again: ‘To God on high be glory, And peace on earth to men!’

The Word becomes incarnate, And yet remains on high!

And cherubim sing anthems To shepherds from the sky.

Repeat …

Since all he comes to ransom, By all be he adored, The Infant born in Bethlehem, The Saviour and the Lord: Repeat …

St Germanus (634–c.733), ‘Μέγα καί παράδοξον Θαΰμα’, tr. John Mason Neale (1818–1866)

19 The Pear Tree Carol

The first tree to blossom is the pear, It comes to life in spring.

The blossom of the pear is white, We bless its opening.

Alleluia.

The white that winter wears Brings in summer’s green.

The pear tree opens up its arms No matter how cold the scene.

Res miranda.

Texts Despite the winter storm The pear will have its day.

The pear will blossom once more, Our care will melt away.

Alleluia.

If I took the pear tree’s shape, I’d blossom in your heart.

If I were a petal of snow I’d let the healing start.

Gaudeamus.

Charles Bennett (b. 1954) res miranda – wonderful thing gaudeamus – let us rejoice

Biographies 20 Welcome, all wonders in one sight!

Welcome, all wonders in one sight!

Eternity shut in a span; Summer in winter; day in night; Heaven in earth, and God in man.

Great little one, whose all-embracing birth Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.

Come we shepherds whose blest sight Hath met love’s noon in nature’s night; Come lift we up our loftier song And wake the sun that lies too long.

To all our world of well-stolen joy He slept, and dreamt of no such thing, While we found out heaven’s fairer eye, And kissed the cradle of our King.

Richard Crashaw (1613–1649)

Dame Sarah Connolly was born in County Durham and attended the Royal College of Music as a joint first-study pianist and singer.

Opera engagements have taken her around the world from the Metropolitan Opera to the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera, La Scala Milan, the Vienna and Munich State Operas and the Bayreuth, Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence Festivals. She has also made frequent appearances at Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, and, particularly, English National Opera.

She has appeared in recital in London, New York, Boston, Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Atlanta and Stuttgart; and at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and Oxford Song festivals. She is a frequent guest at the BBC Proms where, in 2009, she was a memorable soloist at the Last Night. A prolific recording artist, Sarah has twice been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Sarah was made a DBE in the Queen’s 2017 Birthday Honours. In 2020 she was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society in recognition of her outstanding services to music. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Music and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music. She holds an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University.

Nick Pritchard was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford and studied at the Royal College of Music International Opera School.

He was an inaugural member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s ’Rising Stars’ scheme (2017–19) and is a Samling Artist.

Described as a ‘masterly Evangelist’ in the Guardian, he has sung in Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions with The English Concert in New York, with Polyphony, the OAE and notably with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. With the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, his recording of Bach’s St John Passion was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance.

He has performed with ensembles including Concerto Köln, Les Talens Lyrique, Les Violons du Roy, Academy of Ancient Music, Philharmonia Orchestra, The Sixteen, Ensemble Pygmalion, Britten Sinfonia and L’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. He has worked with conductors including Richard Egarr, Masato Suzuki, George Benjamin, Harry Bicket, John Butt, Jonathan Cohen, Christian Curnyn, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Emmanuelle Haïm, Laurence Cummings, Raphaël Pichon, Christophe Rousset and Sir András Schiff.

Opera highlights include leading roles for Glyndebourne on Tour, Irish National Opera, Opera Holland Park, the Royal Opera House,

Biographies Opera North, The Grange Festival, Luxembourg Opera, Opéra de Lille, Gottingen Handel Festival, London Handel Festival and the Aldeburgh Festival.

Bass-baritone Neal Davies studied at King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Music. In 1991 he won the Lieder Prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

He has appeared in concert with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Hallé, Cleveland Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony orchestras, Orquesta Nacional de España, Les Violons du Roy and Wiener Philharmoniker, with David Afkham, Ivor Bolton, Pierre Boulez, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, Daniel Harding, René Jacobs, Mariss Jansons, Stephen Layton, Paul McCreesh, Jonathan Nott, Bernard Labadie and Jonathan Cohen.

He is a regular guest at the Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms. He has sung Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Alaska Wolf Joe (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny), and in Giulio Cesare at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and in several titles at English National Opera including Jephtha, La clemenza di Tito and Xerxes. Neal also performs with Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Opera di

Roma and Lyric Opera of Chicago, and has appeared in performances of Charpentier’s David et Jonathas at Aix-en-Provence. His large discography includes a recording of Billy Budd with Daniel Harding which wona Grammy award.

The Choir of Merton College, Oxford is known internationally through its tours, recordings and broadcasts. In 2020, the choir won the ‘Choral Award’ at the BBC Music Magazine Awards for its recording of Gabriel Jackson’s The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ (Delphian, DCD34222).

The choir’s discography on the Delphian label has seen numerous five star reviews and a number of recordings have been Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’. A 2022 release of Ian Venables’ Requiem with orchestral motets by Howells (DCD34252) was nominated as one of MusicWeb International’s Recordings of the Year, while the recently released Orchestral Anthems with Britten Sinfonia (DCD34291) has already garnered rapturous reviews.

Merton College Choir has appeared at the Three Choirs Festival and the Cheltenham Music Festival, and recent London appearances include the concert series at St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall and the Temple Church. The choir is regularly

heard in concert with orchestra, and recent collaborations have seen the choir perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Elgar’s The Apostles), Instruments of Time and Truth (Bach’s St Matthew Passion) and Oxford Baroque (Bach’s Mass in B minor). The Passiontide at Merton festival has an established place in Oxford’s musical calendar, and has led to exciting collaborations with such groups as The Cardinall’s Musick and The Marian Consort.

Merton College Choir regularly tours overseas, and has recently visited the USA, Hong Kong and Singapore, France, Italy and Sweden. In 2017, the choir sang the first Anglican service in St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Merton College Choir made its debut at the Barbican, London in April 2023 in a performance of Bach’s St John Passion with the Britten Sinfonia.

The choir’s commitment to contemporary music has seen numerous composers write for the choir. In recent years the choir has premiered works by Kerry Andrew, Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Ešenvalds, Kendall, MacMillan, McDowall, Rutter, Tabakova and Weir. In July 2021, the choir gave the world premiere of a new work by Daniel Kidane.

Benjamin Nicholas is Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford and Music Director of The Oxford Bach Choir. As a conductor, he has appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, BBC Singers and Holst Singers. At Merton he has developed the work of the College Choir through tours to USA, Singapore and Hong Kong, Sweden, France and Italy, and numerous recordings and broadcasts. In 2016 he founded the College’s Girls’ Choir, and in 2010 founded the Passiontide at Merton Festival. He was elected a Bodley Fellow of Merton in 2018.

Benjamin was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before holding organ scholarships at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul’s Cathedral. After a period as Director of Music of St Luke’s Church, Chelsea, he was Director of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum and Director of Choral Music at Dean Close School.

From 2011 to 2016 he served the Edington Music Festival, firstly as conductor of the Schola and then as Festival Director.

As an organist, Benjamin has given recitals across the UK, in the USA and in Europe.

Recent engagements include Munich Dom, Bath Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. Benjamin’s recording of Elgar’s organ music (DCD34162) was an Organists’ Review Editor’s Choice and his debut disc (DCD34142) received five stars in Choir & Organ.

Choir of Merton College, Oxford Sopranos

Tenors

Izzy Mohan Cuquerella Fran Geldard Francesca Hamilton Amy Higgins Saphia Hussain Cecily Moorsom Imogen Otley Maia Pereira Verity Peterken Agatha Pethers Verity Sawbridge Hattie Twigger-Ross Amalia Wardle Ciara Williams

Clement Collins Rice Ben Crossley Joshua Kenney Henry Le Feber Robertson Wilkie Robson Oscar Tovey Garcia

Altos

Olivia Earl LucyAnne Fletcher Lucy Gibbs Matthew Holland Antonia McClintock Naomi Richards Kit Thickett

Basses

Edward Chesterman Inigo Jones Matthew O’Connor Katie Le Poidevin Joseph Rhee Hugo Till Benedict Verdin Luca Wetherall

Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia Chloe Vincent flute Olivia Jageurs harp Katie Lodge, Rebecca Toal trumpet 1 Louis Barclay trumpet 2 Alex Grinyer, Alexei Watkins horn

Jane Salmon trombone Aled Meredith-Barrett tuba Matthew Turner timpani Owen Chan, François Cloete organ

Also available on Delphian Christmas with the Shepherds: Morales – Mouton – Stabile The Marian Consort / Rory McCleery

Dormi Jesu: A Caius Christmas Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge / Geoffrey Webber

DCD34145

DCD34152

A Christmas programme with a difference: Rory McCleery and his acclaimed consort echo the shepherds’ noels through a motet by Jean Mouton which, astonishingly, remained in the repertoire of the Sistine Chapel for over a hundred years after its composition around 1515. So famous was it by the middle of the century, when Cristóbal de Morales was engaged as a singer in the papal chapel, that it was inevitable that Mouton’s motet – by the compositional precepts of the time – should form the basis for a mass by Morales, while, later still, its text was reused in a new, grander motet by Annibale Stabile. A world premiere recording of the latter work crowns this unique programme, for which McCleery himself has prepared new performing editions.

It was with typical discernment that Geoffrey Webber responded to a request to put together his dream Christmas programme. Opening with Jan Sandström’s sublime deconstruction of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, Webber’s classy choir reveals and delights in equal measure, finding space for both the Venetian lushness of Gabrieli and the distilled purity of Webern in a seasonal collection which is also sprinkled with unexpected gems of more recent provenance. Edward Higginbottom’s jazz-infused Rocking Carol, Thomas Hewitt Jones’s eloquently expressive What Child is This?, and the small miracle that is Matthew Owens’ reimagined setting of The Holly and the Ivy – all glitter in a programme that dovetails old and new with characteristic Cambridge sophistication.

‘unobtrusively wonderful, sung in some style and sumptuously recorded in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford … [An] immaculately produced disc’ — The Arts Desk, December 2014

In the Stillness: A Merton Christmas The Girl Choristers & Lower Voices of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas

‘Geoffrey Webber’s “dream Christmas programme” enjoys superb sound, and singing burgeoning with colour and confidence’ — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2014

O Holy Night: A Merton Christmas Choir of Merton College, Oxford & Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra / Benjamin Nicholas

DCD34262

DCD34192

In the stillness of a midnight stable, a babe is born … In the stillness of an Oxford chapel on a winter’s afternoon, a girl’s voice sings. The newest star in Oxford’s – and Delphian’s – choral firmament, the girl choristers of Merton College have been singing services under the directorship of Benjamin Nicholas for less than five years: in their debut recording, supported by the Lower Voices of Merton College, they tell once more in music from across the centuries the timeless Christmas story of light, hope and joy for a troubled world.

A recording of director Benjamin Nicholas’s favourite carols: two of John Rutter’s most exquisite works are complemented by orchestral versions of well-loved traditional fare. From the ecstatic brass fanfares that introduce O come, all ye faithful and Hark! the herald-angels sing to the intimate performances of Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the apple tree and Morten Lauridsen’s O magnum mysterium, Christmas old and new is celebrated with a fresh sense of all its magic and glory. The choir and orchestra loved making this recording, and it shows.

‘An atmospheric, beautifully meditative collection from the youngest Oxford collegiate choir’ —BBC Radio 3 Record Review, November 2022

‘Benjamin Nicholas and his superb choir are on top form’ — MusicWeb International, November 2017

DCD34321