Christmas with Paul Hillier

Go read my latest CD review, of the new Christmas album from Paul Hillier:

The Christmas Story, Theater of Voices, Ars Nova Copenhagen, P. Hillier (released on September 13, 2011) HMU 807556 | 65'20"

Paul Hillier, The Christmas Story (The Classical Review, September 30)

The gift of CDs of Christmas music is a gauche gesture, because for the most part the music they contain is, at best, passably performed and, at worst, painfully banal.

The only exception to this rule is the occasional disc of exquisite historical music performed with such delicacy and musicality that it is impossible to resist. This new recording from Paul Hillier’s two choral ensembles -- Theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen -- comes close to passing that bar: a handsomely packaged disc, complete with a thoughtful essay by Hillier and carefully edited texts and translations.

Gregorian chant from the feast of Christmas is a winning choice of programming in these cases, and the selections here, like the introit for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Rorate caeli desuper, that opens the disc, and the Christmas introit Puer natus est, are beautifully performed.

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