Advent Live - Volume 3

Advent Live - Volume 3

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Director of Music: 
Andrew NethsinghaGeorge Herbert
Organ Scholar: 
George Herbert
Release date: 
November 2023
Featuring: 
  • James Anderson-Besant (Organ)
  • James Gant (Tenor)
  • Alexander Hopkins (Bass)
  • Archie Inns (Tenor)
  • Carlos Rodríguez Otero (Tenor)
  • George Vines (Bass)
  • Oliver Wass (Harp)
  • Joseph Wicks (Organ)
Record label: 
St John's Cambridge/Signum
Catalogue number: 
SIGCD768
Booklet: 
PDF icon Download album booklet (4.34 MB)

The third in our series of live recordings from our Advent Carol Services, Advent Live - Volume 3 features recordings from our 2020, 2021 and 2022 services, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 since 1981.

The Advent Carol Services of 2020 and 2021 unfolded amidst unprecedented challenges. In 2020, the service took place in the College Chapel without a congregation, and the Choir maintained social distance due to the second pandemic lockdown. Similarly, the 2021 service faced substantial disruptions from Covid-19, with only ten Choristers performing and Director of Music Andrew Nethsingha isolating at home with the virus. In a remarkable act of adaptability, Herbert Howells Organ Scholar George Herbert stepped in to conduct the service at short notice. The 2022 service held special significance as it marked Andrew's final Advent Carol Service at St John's College. Notably, it was also the first time girls and women joined boys and men in the Choir, marking a historic milestone.

Since 2008, Andrew Nethsingha began the practice of commissioning a new work for each Advent service, which has been made possible by a generous donation by an anonymous donor. This album features two of those commissions: Cheryl Frances-Hoad's Lo! The desert-depths are stirr'd (2020) and Helen Grime's Telling (2021.

Our first Advent Live album was released in October 2018 and Advent Live - Volume 2 was released in November 2020. 

Track list

  1. Lo! The desert-depths are stirr’d (Cheryl Frances-Hoad)
  2. Advent Calendar (Philip Ledge)
  3. Telling (Helen Grime)
  4. There is no rose (Francis Pott)
  5. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn, BWV 601 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  6. Pan fo’r stormydd garwa’n curo (John Raymond Williams)
  7. Hymn – O come, O come, Emmanuel! (Tune: Veni Emmanuel, Adapted by Thomas Helmore, Descant: David Hill)
  8. Nowel, nowel. Owt of your slepe (Anonymous, 15th century)
  9. Drop down, ye heavens, from above (Judith Weir)
  10. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BVW 659 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  11. There is no rose (Simon Preston)
  12. Hymn – Come, thou long-expected Jesus (Tune: Cross of Jesus, John Stainer, Descant: Christopher Robinson)
  13. O virgo virginum (Harry L’Estrange)
  14. One star, at last (Peter Maxwell Davies)
  15. Antiphons – O Dayspring; O King of the nations (Traditional)
  16. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  17. Adam lay ybounden (Peter Warlock)
  18. Gottes Sohn ist kommen, BWV 600 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  19. Hymn – On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry (Tune: Winchester New, Descant: Christopher Robinson)
  20. Antiphon – O Emmanuel (Traditional)

Reviews

One of the most pleasing features of the selection of music on this disc is the number of St John’s connections which are woven into the programme. There are a couple of pieces which were composed specifically for the St John’s choir. The music is beautiful and sounds to be very well written for choir.

John Quinn, MusicWeb International

The voices of the choir unfold with brilliance and with a sonority of optimal quality in the interpretation of the majestic hymns in O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! It is within the reach of all listeners to feel the process of the disc that goes through, with pieces by different composers, from the most intimate singing to the joyful final work ‘A Gallery Carol'

Sonograma Magazine

To reach volume three suggests that volumes one and two were worth a follow up. As with the previous two albums, there is a good mix of anthems, hymns, and organ music and, once more, some new commissions. The singing is uniformly excellent and the range of material from the 15th century “Nowel, nowel. Owt of your slepe” to the contemporary setting of “O virgo virginum” … gives a pleasing mix without anything sounding jarringly out of place.

Cross Rhythms

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