In 1965, the Oxford University Press commissioned new carols from 17 of Britain's best composers, publishing the works in a volume called Carols of Today. The following year, the Argo record label recorded 14 of the works for an LP given the same name.
Today's post is devoted to that very good album and the delightful or at least impressive compositions it contains. The composers and their carols follow:
- William Mathias (1934-92) - Wassail Carol, Op. 26, No. 1
- Benjamin Britten (1913-76) - Jesu, as Thou art our Saviour
- John Joubert (1927-2019) - A Little Child there is yborn, op. 48
- Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012) - The Sorrows of Mary
- Alun Hoddinott (1929-2008) - What Tidings, Op. 38
- Peter Racine Fricker (1920-90) - In Excelsis Gloria
- Nicholas Maw - (1935-2009) Balulalow
- Peter Wishart (1921-84) - Alleluya, A New Work is come on Hand
- John McCabe (1939-2015) - Coventry Carol
- Alan Rawsthorne (1905-1971) - The Oxen
- Gordon Crosse (1927-2021) - Laetabundus
- Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) - Ave Plena Gracia
- Phyllis Tate (1911-87) - The Virgin and Child
- John Gardner (1917-2011) - The Shout - An Easter Carol
The performers were the Elizabethan Singers, a group formed and conducted by Louis Halsey. This was the third seasonal recording that the ensemble had recorded for Argo, following Sing Nowell in 1963 and Sir Cristemas in 1965. The Singers also produced a number of other LPs with Halsey and other conductors into the 1972. Halsey went on to form the Louis Halsey Singers, also active in the studios.
The soloists on this recording were soprano Susan Longfield, tenor Ian Partridge and bass Christopher Keyte, all highly accomplished, as was Simon Preston, one of Britain's best known organists.
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| Simon Preston, Louis Halsey, Susan Longfield |
The music represents a few generations of composers from Alan Rawsthorne, Phyllis Tate and Benjamin Britten to John McCabe, Richard Rodney Bennett and others born in the 1930s. Those who have heard my recent posts of Britten and William Mathias will know of the expressive quality of their choral music; the others are of a similar standard. The three composers who contributed to the Oxford book of carols but who were not represented on the record are Imogen Holst, David Blake and Adrian Cruft.
Not all these compositions are Christmas carols: those of Richard Rodney Bennett and John Gardner were written for Easter. The settings are of generally of texts from the 11th to 16th centuries, with the exception of a Thomas Hardy setting and a 20th century text by Adam Fox, onetime Oxford professor of poetry and later Canon of Westminster Abbey.
The download includes scans and texts, as usual. The excellent recording comes from Holy Trinity Church in Kensington.
The cover above is one of the many that Arthur Wragg executed for Argo. Another cover for a Christmas disc, from the Choristers of Ely Cathedral, can be found on this blog. There are several other designs for choral music LPs and an extensive series for Shakespeare's plays. I'll post a link to my collection of these soon. The Carols of Today cover would seem to have been more influenced by the art of the French painter Georges Rouault than Wragg's other covers.
