A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

This disc could be more succinctly titled Christmas for Anglophiles. Few sounds are more British than the boy soprano-dominated Choir of King's College in Cambridge. And the group is heard--in some sections recorded live--in an actual Christmastide service amid the generous reverberation of a cathedral acoustic with little more than a tasteful though austere organ accompaniment. The repertoire isn't just conservative, traditional hymns and carols. One is harmonized by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and there are a number of contributions by contemporary composers Thomas Ad¨s, Judith Weir, and John Tavener, all of which are probing, sincere, even personal examples of their art (and some are daringly liberated, harmonically speaking). The downside for some listeners--at least on repeated hearings--is that the entire service is heard, sermons and all. Others may take this in the spirit of a Paul McCreesh liturgical reconstruction, with congregational singing included. --David Patrick Stearns