Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and Daniel Hyde – Carols From King’s (2020 Collection) (2020) [FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and Daniel Hyde – Carols From King’s (2020 Collection) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 41:02 minutes | 425 MB | Genre: Classical, Christmas
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front cover | © Kings College Cambridge

A collection of carols sung live on Christmas Eve and made available as an audio album for the first time. Taken from the BBC’s 2019 Christmas broadcasts, these recordings capture the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge under the direction of Daniel Hyde, performing for his first Christmas at King’s since taking up the post of Director of Music.

Highlights include the premiere performance of the commissioned carol The Angel Gabriel, John Rutter’s Candlelight Carol and the spell-binding Coventry Carol (Lully Lulla) by Kenneth Leighton.

There are numerous recordings of Christmas carols by British collegiate choirs. There are quite a few by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and there are even two with the title Carols from King’s, necessitating the unwieldy “2020 Collection” parenthesis: which moreover is inaccurate. The album is a live recording, not a collection, and it was made in 2019. All of this said this is a distinctive holiday recording that should have legs beyond its release in the 2020 Christmas season. The live recording, from a 2019 BBC television broadcast, sets the album apart in itself, and it’s exceptionally well done, capturing the energetic immediacy of the young choristers. Most distinctive is the program, which is unusually contemporary by the standards of releases of this kind. Familiar carols are present, but often in fresh arrangements, and there are contemporary pieces that fit nicely into the program. These include Philip Moore’s The Angel Gabriel, newly commissioned by the choir; Elizabeth Maconchy’s There Is No Rose of Such Virtue, a fascinating take on old melodic material; and John Rutter’s Candlelight Carol. For listeners in search of a holiday recording just a bit out of the mainstream, this will fill the bill well.

Tracklist

1. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Once in Royal David’s City (Live)
2. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – A Maiden Most Gentle (Live)
3. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – There is No Rose of Such Virtue (Live)
4. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Herefordshire Carol (This is the Truth Sent from Above) [Live]
5. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Live)
6. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – The Angel Gabriel (Live)
7. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Three Carols, Op. 25: No. 2. Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny Child (Coventry Carol) [Live]
8. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night) [Live]
9. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – O Little Town of Bethlehem (Live)
10. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Ding! Dong! Merrily on High (Live)
11. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Candlelight Carol (Live)
12. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Live)

Download:

mqs.link_Ch0ir0fKingsC0llegeCambridgeCar0lsFr0mKings2020C0llecti0n20202448.rar