Christmas night (album)
Encyclopedia
Christmas Night is a Christmas-themed album by The Cambridge Singers
conducted by John Rutter
. Most songs are sung a capella, on others the choir is accompanied by The City of London Sinfonia
. It was first released in 1987 on Rutter’s label Collegium Records.
at King's College
in Cambridge
. Some arrangements for the carols on the album were written by conductors or arrangers who have worked at King's College over the years.
Most carols on the album were written centuries ago, although several are relatively young. For instance, “Candlelight carol” was written in 1984 by Rutter. Others are a mix of old and new: “There is a flower" was written by fifteenth century monk John Audely, with new music by John Rutter.
Cambridge Singers
Cambridge Singers is an English mixed voice chamber/choral group formed in 1981 by their director John Rutter with the primary purpose of making recordings under their own label "Collegium"....
conducted by John Rutter
John Rutter
John Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
. Most songs are sung a capella, on others the choir is accompanied by The City of London Sinfonia
City of London Sinfonia
The City of London Sinfonia is an English chamber orchestra based in London. In London, the CLS performs regularly at Cadogan Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. It is also the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park. The CLS has annual residencies in four towns in Southern England: Ipswich, King's...
. It was first released in 1987 on Rutter’s label Collegium Records.
The album
The CD version of “Christmas Night” contains 22 Christmas carols spanning more than six centuries. Most of these have become well known thanks to the Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and CarolsNine Lessons and Carols
The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas...
at King's College
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. Some arrangements for the carols on the album were written by conductors or arrangers who have worked at King's College over the years.
Most carols on the album were written centuries ago, although several are relatively young. For instance, “Candlelight carol” was written in 1984 by Rutter. Others are a mix of old and new: “There is a flower" was written by fifteenth century monk John Audely, with new music by John Rutter.
Critical response
Rick Anderson of Allmusic calls the album "a surprisingly varied program of songs from British, Italian, American, German, and Basque sources". He says that the pieces penned by the composer, John Rutter, are "ripe and fulsome and gushing in that idiosyncratically British neo-romantic way". Compared to other Christmas albums released by the Cambridge Singers he says this album is "more or less interchangeable" but they all are "...pure, unadulterated, tear-in-the-eye Christmas Eve devotional spirit...".Tracklisting
Track listing, with the original composer (if known) between brackets.- "In Dulci JubiloIn Dulci JubiloIn dulci jubilo is a traditional Christmas carol. In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages. Subsequent translations into English, such as J.M...
" (German traditional) - "Adam Lay YboundenAdam Lay Ybounden"Adam lay ybounden", originally titled Adam lay i-bowndyn is a 15th century macaronic English text of unknown authorship. The manuscript on which the poem is found, , is held by the British Library, who date the work to c.1400 and speculate that the lyrics may have belonged to a wandering minstrel;...
" (Boris Ord) - "Christmas Night" (French trad.)
- "Once, as I Remember" (Italian trad.)
- "A Spotless Rose" (Herbert Howells)
- "In the Bleak MidwinterIn the Bleak Midwinter"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a Christmas carol based on a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti written before 1872 in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem....
" (Harold Darke) - "There is a Flower" (John Rutter)
- "The Cherry Tree Carol" (English trad.)
- "I Wonder As I WanderI Wonder As I Wander"I Wonder as I Wander" is a Christmas carol written by John Jacob Niles. The carol has its origins in a song fragment collected on July 16, 1933 by folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles....
" (Appalachian carol) - "Candlelight CarolCandlelight CarolCandlelight Carol is a Christmas carol with music and lyrics by the English choral composer and conductor John Rutter. The carol was written in 1984, and was first recorded by Rutter's own group, the Cambridge Singers on their 1987 album Christmas Night...
" (John Rutter) - "O TannenbaumO Tannenbaum"O Tannenbaum", or, in its English version, "O Christmas Tree", is a Christmas carol of German origin.A Tannenbaum is a fir tree or Christmas tree...
" (German trad.) - "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day" (English trad.)
- "A Virgin Most Pure" (English trad.)
- "I Sing of a Maiden" (Patrick Hadley)
- "Lute-Book Lullaby" (William Ballet)
- "The Three Kings" (Peter Cornelius)
- "Myn Lyking" (R.R. Terry)
- "O Little One Sweet" (Samuel Scheidt)
- "All My Heart This Night Rejoices" (G. Ebeling)
- "I Saw a Maiden" (Basque trad.)
- "Away In A MangerAway in a Manger"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in 1885 in Philadelphia and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain it is one of the most popular carols, a 1996 Gallup Poll ranking it joint second.-History of the lyrics:...
" (W.J. Kirkpatrick) - "Nativity Carol" (John Rutter)
Personnel
- John RutterJohn RutterJohn Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
- conductor, arranger, composer - Cambridge SingersCambridge SingersCambridge Singers is an English mixed voice chamber/choral group formed in 1981 by their director John Rutter with the primary purpose of making recordings under their own label "Collegium"....
- performers - City of London SinfoniaCity of London SinfoniaThe City of London Sinfonia is an English chamber orchestra based in London. In London, the CLS performs regularly at Cadogan Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. It is also the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park. The CLS has annual residencies in four towns in Southern England: Ipswich, King's...
- orchestra - Jillian White - record producer
- Campbell Hughes - engineer
- David Jacob - digital editing
- Nick Findell - cover design