Programme

One star at last includes eight new carols (six of them specially-commissioned by BBC Radio 3), several premiere recordings, and a selection of music - serious and light-hearted, contemplative and joyful - by some of the leading British, European and North American choral composers of the day.

Tradition does make itself felt, though, in the use several composers make of ancient words or music. The Danish composer Bo Holten weaves a series of English medieval texts into a gently thoughtful meditation which - like Steve Martland’s carols (which similarly draw on medieval verse) - inhabits a sound-world where the music of the medieval period is never far away.

Thomas Adès, Judith Weir and James MacMillan also draw inspiration from early English words. Each piece was commissioned for that most traditional of Christmas events - the service of Nine Lessons and Carols given each Christmas Eve in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. But these are decidedly original settings which (like Maxwell Davies’ One star, at last, another King’s commission) shine a contemporary light on tradition: each has become a modern choral classic.

Richard Rodney Bennett and Judith Bingham turn to the poetry of more recent times, in characteristically mellifluous and thoughtful settings; Francis Grier makes a haunting carol from one of the most poignant of medieval English poems, while John Tavener creates a piece imbued with the sounds and traditions of Orthodox worship. Roxanna Panufnik acknowledges her roots in a beautiful arrangement of a traditional Polish carol, familiar to her from childhood, while the Swiss composer Carl Rütti makes a wonderfully memorable new carol from old American words.

Music from America itself comes in the form of Conrad Susa’s brilliantly joyous setting of a poem by George Herbert. John Harbison sets Latin words, from the liturgies for Christmas Day, which have attracted composers since the Renaissance as well as yielding a number of notable contemporary settings, while Jean Belmont takes an anonymous text and creates a powerfully understated meditation which reaches to the heart of the Christmas story.

Venturing much further away from the familiar in seasonal music is Jerzy Kornowicz’s unique and highly creative sound collage, mixing virtuosic choral-writing with pre-recorded fragments of speech. And moving, finally, into a more light-hearted realm, Howard Goodall turns Renaissance Spanish sacred words into a choral rumba, while John Harle’s entirely secular Christmas vision is a beautifully-judged tribute to the world of barbershop and the elegance of the 1930s

Texts

[1] Bo Holten (b. 1948)
Nowell Sing We Now
BBC commission; premiere recording
Edition Wilhelm Hansen / Chester Music Text: Early English carols

In Bethlehem, in that fair city, A child was born of a maiden free, That shall a Lord and Prince be Alleluia.

A solis ortus cardine
Jam lucis orto sidere
Hic jacet in praesepio
Qui regnat sine termino.

O Lord and prince of high degree,
Alleluia, Alleluia.

And children were slain full great plenty,
Hostes Herodes impie,
O Jesu for the love of Thee,
Wherefore here soulès savèd be.

Herod, the king, in his raging,
Chargèd he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.

Nowell sing we now all and some,
For Rex Pacificus is come,
O lux beata trinitas.
Alleluia.

(Texts used simulatenously)

[2, 3 & 4] Steve Martland (b. 1959)
Three Carols
Premiere recording
Schott & Co.
Text: Medieval

From lands that see the sun arise

A solis ortus cardine.
From lands that see the sun arise
to earth’s remotest boundaries
Let ev’ry heart arise, and sing
The Son of Man, Christ the King.

Caste parentis viscera.
For this, how wondrously He wrought!
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of his grace.

Enixa est puerpera.
That Son, that royal Son she bore,
When Gabriel announced before,
Whom, in his mother’s womb concealed,
The unborn Baptist had revealed.

Gloria tibi, Domine.
Eternal praise and glory be,
O Jesu, virgin born to thee.
With Father and with Holy Ghost,
From men and from the Heav’nly host,
Amen.

Make we joy

A Patre unigenitus.
Thro’ a maiden is come to us,
Sing we here and say ‘welcome’!
Veni redemptor gentium.

Make we joy now in this fest,
In quo Christus natus est. Eya.

Agnoscat omne seculum.
A bright star made three kings to come
Him to seek with gifts
Verbum supernum prodiens.

A solis ortus cardine.
So mighty a lord, was none as he,
To our kind has given peace,
Adam parens quod polluit.

Maria ventre concipit;
The Holy was with her,
Of her in Bethlehem is born,
Consors paterni luminis.

Lux beata Trinitas.
He lay between an ox and an ass,
Beside Mary His mother free,
Gloria tibi, Domine.

There is no Rose as such virtue

There is no Rose as such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu.
Alleluia.

For in this rose containèd was
Heav’n and earth in little space.
Res Miranda.

By that rose we may well see,
That He is God in persons three,
Pares forma.

The angels sang the shepherds to:
‘Gloria in excelsis Deo’.
Gaudeamus.

Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth,
Transeamus.

[5] Carl Rütti (b. 1949)
I wonder as I wander
Premiere recording of version for choir and organ
Escorial Edition
Organ reduction by Anne Duarte & Carl Rütti
Text: Traditional Appalachian carol

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die.
For poor orn’ry people like you and like I.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

When Mary birthed Jesus, ‘twas in a cow’s stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.
But high from the heavens a star light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God’s angels in heaven for to sing,
He surely could have it, ‘cause he was the King.

[6] Judith Weir (b. 1954)
Illuminare, Jerusalem (Jerusalem rejos for joy)
Novello & Co.
Text: Anonymous, 15th Century Scottish

Jerusalem rejos for joy:
Jesus, the sterne of most bewte
In thee is rissin as richtous roy,
Fro dirknes to illumyne thee.
With glorius sound of angell gle
Thy prince is borne in Baithlem
Quhilk sall thee mak or thraldome fre.
Illuminare, Jerusalem.

With angellis licht in legionis
Thou art illumynit all about.
Thre kingis of strenge regionis
To thee ar cumin with lusty rout,
All drest with dyamantis but dout.
Reverst with gold in every hem,
Sounding attonis with a schout,
Illuminare, Jerusalem.

The regeand tirrant that in thee rang,
Herod, is exilit and his ofspring,
The land of Juda that josit wrang,
And rissin is now thy richtous king.
So he so mychtie is and ding,
Quhen men his glorius name dois nem,
Hevin erd and hell makis inclyning.
Illuminare, Jerusalem.

[7] Judith Bingham (b. 1952)
The Shepherd’s Gift
BBC commission; premiere recording
Maecenas Music
Text: Anonymous

We stood on the hills, lady,
Our day’s work done,
Watching the frosted meadows
That winter had won.

The evening was calm, lady,
The air was still,
Silence more lovely than music
Folded the hill.

There was a star, lady,
Shone in the night,
Larger than Venus it was,
And bright, so bright.

Oh, a voice from the sky, lady,
It seemed to us then
Telling of God being born
In the world of men.

And so we have come, lady,
Our day’s work done,
Our love, our hopes, ourselves
We give to your son.

[8] Francis Grier (b. 1956)
Corpus Christi Carol
Oxford University Press
Text: Anonymous 15th Century

Lully, lullay:
Lully, lullay:
The falcon hath borne my make away.

He bore him up, he bore him down;
He bore him into an orchard brown.

In that orchard there was an hall,
That was hanged with purple and pall.

And in the hall there was a bed:
It was hanged with gold so red.

And in that bed there lieth a knight,
His woundès bleeding, day and night.

By that bedside there kneeleth a may,
And she weepeth both night and day.

And by that bedside there standeth a stone,
‘Corpus Christi’ written thereon.

[9] Thomas Adès (b. 1971)
The Fayrfax Carol
Faber Music
Text: Anonymous, Early Tudor

‘Ah, my dear Son’, said Mary,
‘Kiss Thy mother, Jesu,
With a laughing cheer.’

This endurs night
I saw a sight,
All in my sleep:
Mary, that may,
She sang lullay,
And sore did weep.

To keep she sought
Full fast about
Her son from cold;
Joseph said,
‘Wife, My joy, my life,
Say what ye would.’

‘Nothing, my spouse,
Is in this house
Unto my pay;
My Son, a King,
that made all thing,
Lieth in hay.’

‘My mother dear,
Amend your cheer,
And now be still;
Thus for to lie,
It is soothly
My Father’s will.

Derision,
Great passion,
Infinitely,
As it is found,
Many a wound
Suffer shall I.

On Calvary,
That is so high,
There shall I be,
Man to restore,
Nailèd full sore
Upon a tree.’

[10] Conrad Susa (b. 1935)
The Shepherds Sing
E C Schirmer Music Company
Text: George Herbert

Nova, nova ave fiit ex Eva.

The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be?
My God, no hymn for thee?

My soul’s a shepherd too; a flock it feeds
Of thoughts, and words, and deeds.

The pasture is thy word: the streams thy grace,
Enriching all the place.

Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my pow’rs,
Out-sing the daylight hours.

Then we will chide the sun for letting night,
Take up his place and right:

We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should
Himself the candle hold.

I will go searching, till I find a sun
Shall stay, till we have done.

A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly
As frost-nipt suns look sadly.

Then will we sing, and shine all our own day,
And one another pay:

His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine
Till ev’n his beams sing, and my music shine.

[11] Jean Belmont (b. 1939)
Nativitas Gordon V Thompson
Text: Anonymous

Nativitas, nativitas,
Hail Mary, Holy Virgin,
Your son, our Saviour:
O how fare ye in little Bethlehem’s stable?

In the midwinter’s night,
The son of the Eternal God
Lies in a manger.
Nativitas, nativitas.

[12] James MacMillan (b. 1959)
Seinte Mari Moder Milde
Premiere recording
Boosey & Hawkes
Text: Anonymous, 13th Century

Seinte Mari moder milde,
Mater salutaris;
Feirest flour of eni felde
Vere nuncuparis.
Thorou ihesu crist thou were wid childe;
Thou bring me of my thouhtes wilde
Potente,
That maket me to dethe tee
Repente.

Mi thounc is wilde as is the ro
Luto gratulante.
Ho werchet me ful muchel wo
Illaque favente.
Bote yef he wole wende me fro,
Ic wene myn herte breket a two
Fervore.
Ic am ifaiht bo day ant naiht
Dolore.

Suete levedi, flour of alle,
Vere consolatrix,
Thou be myn help that I ne fall,
Cunctis reparatrix!
Mildest queen ant best icorn,
Niht ant day thou be me forn
Precantis!
Yef me grace to see thi face
Infantis!

[13] John Tavener (b. 1944)
Today the Virgin
Chester Music
Text: Mother Thekla
© 1991 Chester Music Ltd.
All Rights Reserved. International
Copyright Secured Reprinted by Permission.

Today the Virgin comes to the cave
To give birth to the Word eternal:

Rejoice, O World
With the Angels and the Shepherds
Give glory to the Child!
Alleluia!

Mary, my wife, O Mary, my wife!
What do I see?
I took you blameless before the Lord
From the priests of the Temple.
What do I see?

Joseph the Bridegroom, O Joseph the Bridegroom!
Do not fear.
God in his mercy has come down to earth.
He takes flesh in my womb
For all the world to see.

Mary, my Bride, O Mary, my Bride,
What do I see?
You, a Virgin giving birth.
Strange mystery!

Joseph the Bridegroom. O Joseph the Bridegroom!
Do not fear.
God in his mercy has come down to earth.
He takes flesh in my womb
For all the world to see.

Warned by the Angel we believe
That Mary gives birth inexplicable
To the infant, Christ, our God.

[14] Jerzy Kornowicz (b. 1959)
Oczekiwanie (Waiting)
BBC commission; premiere recording
Text: Mateus Wirtan

[15] Richard Rodney Bennett (b. 1936)
Carol
BBC commission; premiere recording
Novello & Co.
Text: W R Rodgers Carol reproduced by kind permission of the Estate of W.R. Rodgers and The Gallery Press, Loughcrew, Oldcastle, Meath, Ireland from Poems (1993)

Deep in the fading leaves of night
There lay the flower that darkness knows,
Till winter stripped and brought to light
The most incomparable Rose
That blows, that blows.

The flashing mirrors of the snow
Keep turning and returning still:
To see the lovely child below
And hold him is their only will;
Keep still, keep still.

And to let go his very cry
The clinging echoes are so slow
That still his wail they multiply
Though he lie singing now below,
So low, so low.

Even the doves forget to grieve
And gravely to his greeting fly,
And the lone places that they leave
All follow and are standing by
On high, on high.

[16] Peter Maxwell Davies (b. 1934)
One star, at last
Chester Music

[17] John Harbison (b. 1938)
O Magnum Mysterium
Premiere recording
Associated Music Publishers / Chester Music
Text: Matin Responsory for Christmas Day

O magnum mysterium
Et admirabile sacramentum,
Ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
Jacentem in praesepio.

Beata Virgo cujus viscera
Meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.

Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum, Amen.

O great wonder,
and miraculous sacrament:
The beasts of the field see the Lord, new-born
and lying in a manger.

Blessed is she, the Virgin whose womb
Was worthy to bear
Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hail Mary, full of grace
The Lord is with you.

[18] Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968)
Sleep, little Jesus, sleep
Premiere recording
Universal Edition (London)
Text: Traditional Polish

Sleep, little Jesus, my gentle dove
Sleep, dearest treasure and precious love
Sleep, little Lord Jesus, hush don’t you cry,
Mary will comfort you with her lullaby.

Lulaj, lulajze Jezniu

Look down from heaven all over this earth,
Bless us with happiness, goodwill and mirth.
Sleep, little Lord Jesus, hush don’t you cry,
Mary will comfort you with her lullaby.

Translation: Anna Kaspszyk

[19] Howard Goodall (b. 1958)
Romance of the Angels (Romance que cantó la novena orden, que son los seraphines) (Romance ballad sung by the Ninth Order of the angels which are the Seraphim)
BBC commission; premiere recording
Text: Fray Iñigo de Mendoza, late 15th Century

Gozo muestren en la tierra
Y en el limbo Algería,
Fiestas hagan en el cielo
Por el parto de María;

No halle lugar tristeza
En tan plazentero día,
Pues que hoy de una donzella
El hijo de Dios nascía
Humillado en carne humana,
Para que por esta vía
Se repare en estas sillas
Lo que en ellas fallescía.

¡O alta fuerça de amor!
Pues que tu dulce porfía
No sólo le hizo hombre,
Mas a la muerte le embía,
Digamos al sacro niño
Con suave melodía:

Eres niño y has amor:
¿Qué farás cuando mayor?

Pues qué en tu natividad
Te quema la caridad,
En tu varonil edad
¿Quién sufrirá su calor?

Será tan bivo su fuego
Que con importuno ruego
Por salvar el mundo ciego
Te dará mortal dolor.

Arderá tanto su gana,
Que por la natura humana
Querrás pagar su mançana
Con muerte de malhechor.

¡O Amor digno de espanto!
Pues que en este niño sancto
Has de pregontarte tanto
Cantemos a su loor :

Pue qué en tu natividad
Te quema la caridad,
En tu varonil edad
¿Quién sufrirá su calor?

¡O alta fuerça de amor!
Pues que tu dulce porfía
No sólo le hizo hombre,
Mas a la muerte le embía,
Digamos al sacro niño
Con suave melodía.

Let joy be shown on earth and happiness in limbo, let there be rejoicing in Heaven for Mary’s delivery. Let no sadness be found in any place on such a pleasant day, for today of a maiden the son of God was born, humbled to human flesh so that by this means there may be restored to those (heavenly) seats what was missing there.

How great is your power, love! Since your sweet persistence not only made him man But sent him to his death, let us say to the holy boy with soft melodies:

You are the child and have love. What will you do when you are bigger?

Since at your birth charity consumes you, who will suffer its heart when you are a man’s age?

Its fire will be so strong that, with its importunate demand to save the blind world, it will give you the pains of death.

Its desire will burn so that you will wish to pay human nature for its apple with a malefactor’s death.

O most astounding love, since in this holy boy you must proclaim yourself so loud, let us sing his praise.

Since at your birth charity consumes you, who will suffer its hear when you are a man’s age?

How great is your power, love! Since your sweet persistence not only made him man but sent him to his death, let us say to the holy boy with soft melodies.

(English translation from THE PENGUIN BOOK OF SPANISH VERSE edited by J M Cohen. Penguin Books 1956, third edition 1988, copyright J M Cohen, 1956, 1960, 1988. Reproduced by kind permission of Penguin Books Ltd.)

[20] John Harle (b. 1956)
Mrs Beeton’s Christmas Plum Pudding (average cost: 3 shillings and 6d)
BBC commission; premiere recording
Chester Music
Text: Charlotte Cory – source: Mrs Beeton’s recipe (Music with the apologies to the great tradition of Barbershop singing!)

To-oo-oo-oo
Make make make make make a Christmas pudding
At an av’rage cost of three and six
Stir twenty four ounces of good raisins
A pound and a half of breadcrumbs mix – do mix
Then you are half way through your Christmas pudding
Sit down now and have a little rest – a rest
Swig a large amount of cooking sherry
And your Christmas pudding will be the best.
Make make make make make a Christmas pudding
At an av’rage cost of three and six
Eight ounces of dried currants, twelve of suet
And half a pound of candied peel do mix – do mix
Eight well-beaten eggs, a pound of sugar
A wineglass full of the veree best brandee – best brandee
Make sure your Christmas pudding is well blended
And your fam’ly happy ever more shall be –

Then press the mixture in a buttered mould
In a floured cloth your plum pudding enfold
Now, Madam, tie it tightly and
boil boil boil, but only lightly.