Christus Natus Est: Early English Christmas | 
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| Creators: Egerton Manuscript 3307 Anonymous, English Anonymous, William Byrd, Sarum Chant, Richard Pygott, Thomas Ravenscroft, John Sheppard, Christmas Traditional, English Traditional, Harry Christophers
Label: Coro
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $12.26
You Save: $4.72 (28%)
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Rating:  1 reviews
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 828021602726
EAN: 0828021602726
Release Date: August 31, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Verbum caro (chant) | | • | Salutation Carol | | • | Nowell sing we, both all and some | | • | Gaudete | | • | Hail Mary full of grace | | • | Gloria in excelsis (Sheppard) | | • | There is no rose | | • | Nowell, nowell: Out of your sleep | | • | Remember O thou man | | • | Quid petis, O fili? (Pygott) | | • | Sweet was the song | | • | Lullaby my sweet little baby (Byrd) | | • | Ave rex angelorum | | • | Drive the cold winter away | | • | Nowell, nowell: The boares head | | • | The old year now has passed away | | • | Angelus ad Virginem | | • | Nowell, nowell: Dieu vous garde | | • | Make we joy | | • | Verbum caro (Sheppard) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
The recordings of The Sixteen have been treasured by collectors of superb choral music Chrstus natus est An Early English Christmas is a beautifully programmed disc of seasonal music from England's golden age of polyphony.
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| Customer Reviews:
superb (if sometimes anachronistic) performances of beautiful music January 8, 2006
Maddy Evil (London, UK)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Amongst the exhaustive catalogue of recordings devoted to Christmas music, this particular example - focusing on works written in England during the Middle Ages and Renaissance - can be warmly recommended indeed. The performances, as ever by this superb choir, are polished and beautifully executed, and the programme is varied both in terms of the selection of pieces (carols, motets, ballads, chant...) and also in the interpretations (usually choir or consort but sometimes 1 singer, occasionally accompanied by instruments - harp, lute, rebec/fiddle, drums). Furthermore, a number of the tracks constitute probably the best available performances of certain works (in particular 4, 9, 11 and 12).
From a purely academic viewpoint there are some musicological inaccuracies however, amongst which perhaps the most apparent is the use of sopranos (although of course the Sixteen are by no means alone in this, and it's easy to see why - given the accuracy of intonation and ensemble achieved by such choirs - so many of the best recordings of early choral music do not use trebles). Texts and pronunciation are also modernised (to take one example, as in 'Swete was the Song the Virgine soong') which arguably removes something of the original character of the pieces, particularly given that it sometimes conceals the intended rhyming structure of the poetry (as in 'Ther is no rose of swych vertu' where the words 'was' and 'space' [verse 2] were pronounced using the same vowel sound in 15th cent English). Thirdly, some of the transcriptions also pose questions, either because they combine differing MS sources (with no indication of this in the notes - like tracks 4 and 17), or as in the case of 'Gaudete!', because they do not consider problems associated with musica ficta (sources contemporaneous with Piae Cantiones [1582] - including other versions of this carol - indicate that use of accidentals was much more widespread than often acknowledged). Lastly, there are some philological peculiarities, perhaps most obviously in the erroneous attribution for tracks 14 and 16 of 'c.1600 Playford MS' (John Playford [c.1623-86] was not even born!!). Presumably (at least for 14), it is the broadside ballad 'A pleasant Countrey new Ditty: Merrily shewing how To drive the cold Winter away' printed by Henry Gosson (fl.1603-40) which is being referred to, although in fact both tracks accord with the versions printed by William Chappell ('The Popular Music of the Olden Time', 1853-9).
Of course, none of these issues are a real cause for concern, particularly given the superb standard of the performances on offer here. However, perhaps they exemplify - even more so than in conventional recordings of early music - how issues of authenticity are so often secondary to an overall aesthetic result, particularly where there is a confrontation with 'tradition'.
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