Track List

1. Anonymous: Rorate coeli desuper

2. Traditional: Veni veni Emanuel

3. Traditional: Est ist ein Ros entsprungen

4. Biasio Tomasi: Dum deambularet Dominus in Paradisum

5. Howard Skempton: Adam lay y-bounden

6. Robert Lucas Pearsall: In dulci iubilo

7. Alessandro Grandi: Missus est Gabriel

8. Anonymous: Puer natus est

9. William Byrd: O magnum mysterium

10. Giovanni Francesco Anerio: Voi ch’ai notturni rai

11. Traditional: Dormi, dormi, o bel bambin

12. Traditional: Liebe Hirten

13. Traditional: Andachtsjodler

14. John Henry Hopkins: We three kings

15. Anonymous: Videntes stellam

16. Traditional: Personent hodie

17. Anonymous: Herodes iratus

18. Anonymous: Vox in Rama

19. Johannes Eccard: Uebers Gebirg

20. Johannes Eccard: Maria wallt zum Heiligtum

21. Traditional: The holly and the ivy

22. Niels Gade: Barn Jesus i en krybbe lå

23. Traditional: We wish you a merry Christmas

Inspired by the much-loved service of “Nine Lessons and Carols” given every Christmas Eve in England, this recording presents the Nativity story told through plainchant, motets, 17th Century dialogues, and traditional folk carols. Paul Hillier leads Theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen in music he has culled and arranged from Italian, German, Danish, English, and American sources.