Cathedral Choir’s Christmas release enters classical charts

Next year Christ Church’s world-renowned Cathedral Choir celebrates its 500th anniversary, and A Lullaby Carol is a collection that celebrates the Choir’s rich musical heritage, while also reflecting its commitment to the latest groundbreaking compositions. The album begins with ‘Make we joy now in this fest’, written by one of Christ Church’s most famous sons, Sir William Walton. Like his other carol on the album, ‘All this time’, it is a vibrant expression of the strophic carol form. Elizabeth Poston’s ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ follows, offering a moment of reflection in its simplicity.

Francis Pott’s improvisation on ‘Adeste, fideles’ is an inventive reimagining of the familiar Christmas carol. David Maw, a distinguished lecturer in Music at Christ Church, offers similarly fresh and bold settings of ‘I Saw Three Ships’, ‘Away in a Manger’, and ‘Lullay, lullay, litel child’.

This recording features three settings by recent Organists (Directors of Music) of Christ Church: Simon Preston’s ‘There is no rose’, Stephen Darlington’s arrangement of ‘Silent night! Holy night!’, and Steven Grahl’s setting of ‘O nata lux’. Judith Weir’s iconic responses to Advent- and Christmas-tide texts, Robert L. Morris’s Glory to the newborn King, and George Baker’s exhilarating Toccata-Gigue on the Sussex Carol have proved to be firm favourites in the Christ Church repertoire. 

A former Lay Clerk of the Choir Piers Connor Kennedy’s evocative carols ‘A Spotless Rose’, ‘Epiphany’ and ‘little tree’, are each marked by his lyrical and harmonic sophistication. Works by Peter Warlock, who studied at Christ Church, sit alongside Giles Swayne’s Magnificat, written for this choir in 1982. Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s setting of ‘Good Day, Sir Christemas!’ brings the programme to a fitting conclusion.

This impressive collection of diverse works is the final release of music from Christ Church Cathedral Choir recorded under the direction of our former Organist Steven Grahl, who has since become Director of Music of our sibling college Trinity, Cambridge. The recording is the product of three days of singing in the acoustically generous setting of Merton College Chapel. 

The release of A Lullaby Carol has been welcomed by the classical music community, entering the official UK Specialist Classical Chart at Number 7, as well as enjoying favourable reviews and playlisting by streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. One notably warm four-star review has come from the Christmas issue of BBC Music Magazine, which praises the Choir’s 'robust, ripe-toned attack' in its performance of the works by Walton, and the 'nimble agility' exhibited in the singing of Frances-Hoad's 'Good Day, Sir Christemas!' and Giles Swayne's Magnificat. The review also highlights the contribution of organist Benjamin Sheen, who, it said, 'excels in virtuosic solo works by George Baker and Francis Pott.'

Responding to such a positive response, Steven Grahl said: 'The warmth of the CD’s reception is a testament to the energy and skill of the Choir members, and Benjamin Sheen’s fine organ playing. It is wonderful to showcase the work of so many excellent composers associated with Christ Church on this disc, and I hope that it will give pleasure to all who hear it.'