Nova! Nova!: Contemporary Carols from St Catharine's

Nova! Nova!: Contemporary Carols from St Catharine's

£12.99
Total playing time [66:05]

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The Choirs of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Edward Wickham (conductor)

The two resident choirs of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and their director Edward Wickham, join together to record this stunning and evocative selection of contemporary Christmas carols. The college can boast having the first and only college-based Oxbridge girls' choir,  and its own beautiful chapel in the very heart of Cambridge, provided the venue for this debut recording of the recently founded St Catharine's Girls' Choir.

Joined by the student choir, the album features premieres from such composers as Richard Rodney Bennett, Roxanna Panufnik, Cecilia McDowall and John Tavener. It also includes works specially written for the Girls' Choir by Stevie Wishart and Christopher Fox.

Album Booklet (PDF)

Tracklist

Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012)
1. The holly and the ivy *

Nicola Lefanu (b. 1947)
2. Saint Ita’s Lullaby *

Matthew Larkin (b. 1963)
3. Adam lay ybounden

Giles Swayne (b. 1946)
4. There is no rose *

Tansy Davies (b. 1973)
5. Christmas Eve

James Macmillan (b. 1959)
6. Nova! Nova! Ave fit ex eva

Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968)
7. Alma redemptoris mater *

Cecilia Mcdowall (b. 1951)
8. Before the paling of the stars *

John Tavener (1944-2013)
9. A Cradle Song *

Christopher Fox (b. 1955)
A Dream of winter *
10. Digging
11. Swedes
12. Thaw
13. Tall nettles

Kerry Andrew (b. 1978)
14. Hevene Quene

Stevie Wishart
Three Carols *
15. Te Deum Laudamus
16. Let’s be merry as bird on berry
17. Lullaby for Freya

Sally Beamish (b. 1956)
18. In the stillness

* world premiere recordings

“

‘St Catharine’s […] acquit themselves well in some tricky music in the lustrous wood surroundings of the college’s little chapel’

- Gramophone

‘St Catharine’s […] acquit themselves well in some tricky music in the lustrous wood surroundings of the college’s little chapel’
Gramophone

'The CD takes its name from a quasi-Medieval carol by James Macmillan, a piece that highlights some of the rhythmic and harmonic twists and turns that the singers have to negotiate here. They do so with artless dexterity and find the expressive nub in a wide range of styles from Tansy Davies to Giles Swayne and from Roxanna Panufnik to Sally Beamish, unified by a thread of tenderness and warmth that runs through the whole disc.'
The Telegraph

'An interesting showcase of recent Christmas compositions'
Lark Reviews

Credits
© 2015 Resonus Limited
Ⓟ 2015 Resonus Limited
Catalogue No. RES10159
Producer, engineer & editor: Adam Binks
EAN: 5060262790632
Cover image: Nativity at Night by Geerten tot Sint Jans