Christmas Story Reviews
18.12.11, SUNDAY TIMES
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
.....“As collections of Christmas music go, this one stands out, not only for the impeccably refined and expressive singing, but for the immense breadth of the material it contains. There is chant, late-16th- and early-17th-century Italian music (Alessandro Grandi et al), and even something recent by Howard Skempton, a poised setting of Adam lay y-bounden. Those seeking more familiar tunes will find them in Hillier’s arrangements of Veni, veni Emmanuel, Personent Hodie, The Holly and the Ivy and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and in Pearsall’s In dulci jubilo and Hopkins’s We Three Kings"......
- Stephpen Pettitt, SUNDAY TIMES
17.12.11, dailyclassicalmusic.com
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
“an out and out seasonal delight ... from its front cover (Mary in the stable by British abstract and religious artist Albert Herbert, 1925-2008), The Christmas Story is a treasure…Hillier's stellar forces and the matchless harmonia mundi team have outdone themselves. A crackerjack recommendation.”
- Howard Smith, dailyclassicalmusic.com
14.12.11, CONCERTONET
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
"The performances are brilliant. Paul Hillier’s latest offering from harmonia mundi, is indeed a special album in luxurious sound. The program is unique enough to be fresh and exciting, with enough familiar tunes to
be a thoughtful addition to your holiday season listening. Hillier’s groups do more than perform music brilliantly; they get out of the way of the music and let it tell the story."
CONCERTONET
14.12.11, Kristeligt Dagblad
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
Fem stjerner *****
Den fremragende engelske dirigent og korspecialist Paul Hillier står bag en nyudgivelse, der har højt internationalt format og må være en seriøs kandidat til årets jule-cd, hvis en sådan pris ellers uddeles. Den har fået titlen "The Christmas Story" og bygger på den gamle engelske juletradition med "Nine Lessons and Carols", som på forunderlig vis inkluderes med især ældre julesalmer og -sange, mange på latin. Hillier, der har boet i Danmark i en halv snes år, har dog også fået smuglet Barn Jesus i en krybbe lå med ind i de i alt 23 skæringer – den er som bekendt komponeret af Niels W. Gade og har tekst af H.C. Andersen. Så kan det ike blive meget mere dansk. Der kan heller ikke præsteres meget mere overbevisende korsang end det, de to ensembler her præsterer: Theatre of Voices og Ars Nova. Af den glimrende booklet fremgår det, at der er tale om Tordenskjolds soldater, samme navne går igen i begge kor på nær det forhold, at Theatre of Voices har fået assistance af guitaristen Fredrik Bock og organisten Bine Bryndorf, to glimrende musikere, der understreger denne skives tårnhøje niveau.
Peter Dürfeld
12.12.11, TIME OUT LONDON
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
This stunningly beautiful record is inspired by the famous Nine Lessons and Carols service. With some wonderful a cappella singing from the choral ensembles – garnished with occasional contributions from theorbo, guitar and organ – conductor Paul Hillier has compiled a collection of pieces (in the form of plainchant, motets and carols) to tell the Nativity story.
It’s also something of a world tour, for the music selections come from numerous areas of the globe. Whether of monastic solemnity, joyous outpouring or humble devotion, these 23 tracks each prove to be rather special in these dedicated performances. The disc, superbly recorded in its airy spaciousness and clarity, ends with a couple of old favourites – ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’ With the inclusion of an essay by Hillier, a Thomas
Hardy poem, all the sung texts, paintings and photographs, the presentation is exemplary.
- Colin Anderson, TIME OUT LONDON
11.12.11, GRAMOPHONE
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
"this year’s most imaginative variation on the seasonal disc theme.... light, airy and expertly balanced accounts of 20 items from plainchant to ‘We wish you a merry Christmas’."
- Jeremy Nicholas, GRAMOPHONE
05.12.11, Presto News
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
Probably my favourite disc this year comes from the Theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen under Paul Hillier. Inspired by the much-loved Christmas Eve service of ‘Nine Lessons and Carols’, Hillier has found and chosen a wide variety of musical sources to tell the Christmas Story. Ranging from plainchant and motets to 17th Century dialogues and contemporary carol settings, it sounds like it may come across as a bit of a hotchpotch. But it doesn’t at all and with singing of the absolute highest calibre I was transfixed for the whole hour. If you only want to buy one Christmas disc this year, this would be my top recommendation.
Presto News
05.12.11, PS TRACKS
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
A pure joy... Theatre of Voices dramatize the old legends and stories to charming effect."
- Lawrence Schenbeck, PS TRACKS
04.12.11, BBC Music Magazine
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
“A trove of festive treasures. Theatre of voices shines in a fresh telling of the Nativity
story. Hillier’s is a smaller-scale, more intimate type of experience than the typical
King’s College Chambrdige presentation, and contiains many unfamiliar musical gems.
The standard of singing is consistently outstanding. A marvelous issue.”
*****
- BBC Music Magazine (Christmas issue 2011)
03.12.11, AUDIOPHILEAUDITION.com
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
*****
”It simply—and rarely—doesn’t get any better than this, and if you love Christmas music this is
one of the two or three I can recommend unreservedly as essential acquisitions for this year’s
hearth-fire stocking."
- Steven, Ritter
02.12.11, The art desk
The Christmas Story: Theatre of Voices, Ars Nova Copenhagen/Hillier (Harmonia Mundi)
This lovely disc offers a Danish take on the traditional English carol service. The readings aren’t included, but we get a sequence of 23 numbers, some familiar, cannily structured so as to tell the Christmas story. They’re drawn from a huge range of sources, from medieval plainchant to a few 20th-century pieces. Of these, the most striking is Howard Skempton’s haunting Adam lay y-bounden, which like this composer’s other work manages to sound both archaic and contemporary at the same time. This needs to be listened to in sequence, in one go, and following the texts leads to a pretty profound, immersive experience. Paul Hillier’s arrangements of traditional carols are unfailingly sensitive; the highlights being a radiant version of the Italian "Dormi, dormi o bel bambino" and an account of "Liebe hirten" underpinned by bell sounds in tenor and bass projected with, err, gusto.
Choral duties are shared between Hillier’s own Theatre of Voices who sing the three Baroque dialogues, each one almost an operatic scene in miniature. Ars Nova Copenhagen sing the larger-scale pieces, with an unerring ability to sound idiomatic despite the diverse range of languages and musical styles. As you’d expect, they’re most at home in Niles Gade’s sweet setting of Hans Christian Andersen’s "Barn Jesus I en krybbe lå". Ars Nova close proceedings with an immaculate a cappella version of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". Harmonia Mundi's sound is exemplary, with just the right amount of reverberation.
02.12.11, GAPPLEGATE.com
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
"this is a definitive choral depiction of the story as portrayed in early music... first-rate fare... It will give you something of substance to lighten the dark nights."
- GAPPLEGATE.com
01.12.11, CLASSICAL REVIEW
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
"beautifully performed... Paul Hillier has dressed up some of these carols with spicy
arrangements... Best of all are the least familiar carols..."
- Charles Downey, CLASSICAL REVIEW
01.12.11, ARIAMA
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
"Hillier’s repertoire choices are bold and beautiful... The performances are
outstanding... These days it seems that everything Hillier touches turns to gold and this
album is the latest that benefits from his Midas touch. Brilliant singing, innovative
repertoire choices and sterling sound quality make this everything you can possibly
want from a Christmas album, or any other album for that matter."
- Craig Zeichner, ARIAMA
01.12.11, BUFFALO NEWS
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
"Paul Hillier—whose 'Home For Thanksgiving' is an annual classic at my house has
assembled a collection of plainchant and traditional carols from Italy, Germany,
Denmark, England and America to tell the Christmas story. A sparkling German carol,
“Liebe Hirten”... and what is surely the Rolls Royce version of “We Three Kings."
.5 STARS - Mary Kunz Goldman, BUFFALO NEWS
01.12.11, ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi
“Paul Hillier is a reliably inventive conductor with an ear for fine choral singing. The Christmas
Story (Theatre of Voices, Ars Nova Copenhagen)… gives the whole story, from Advent and the
Annunciation through Epiphany and the Holy Innocents, along with an ‘epilogue’ of secular
favorites, concluding with figgy pudding.”
- Sarah Brian Miller
27.11.11, MAIL ON SUNDAY
My second choice is another cleverly constructed album of real substance, The Christmas Story from Paul Hillier (Harmonia Mundi USA) *****
Dorset-born Hillier - music director of two Grammy Award-winning Scandinavian choirs who sing here in English and Latin - has devised a programme of carols with plainchant links, telling the Christmas story rather in the manner of the old Anglican service of Nine Lessons And Carols.
The 65 minutes are designed to be played at a single sitting: the musically curious - and those of genuine religious impulse - will find much that is deeply satisfying.
David Mellor
12.11.11, THE ABSOLUTE SOUND
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
"[An] unusual and unusually attractive program... The performances, divided among
Hillier's Theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen, are beyond criticism."
- Paul Seydor, THE ABSOLUTE SOUND
12.11.11, INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
“Luminously recorded in Garnisons Kirke, Copenhagen ‘The Christmas Story’ is not only the
ultimate stocking filler but an essential addition to your Christmas music collection.”
- Robert Levett
11.11.11, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
"It would be hard to imagine a lovelier Christmas presentation than this one... This rare
jewel will brighten your holiday season with its faithful reflection of the joy of
Christmas."
- Crawford, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
09.09.11, CLASSICS TODAY
The Christmas Story, Harmonia Mundi USA
"Paul Hillier always presents something unique... the program returns considerable
rewards both in the exceptional quality of the ensemble singing and in the interesting
repertoire... there's something for everyone here, especially listeners looking for a
fundamentally traditional Christmas program that nevertheless dares to venture slightly
off the well-trod path.
Strongly recommended."
- David Vernier, CLASSICS TODAY