A babe is born: Music for Christmas is a new album from St Martin’s Voices and Andrew Earis released on Resonus Classics ready in time for Christmas, including Grace-Evangeline Mason’s Hodie Christus natus est (2015).
This album from St Martin’s Voices under director Andrew Earis brings together eighteen Christmas choral works by a wide range of contemporary composers. Telling the story of the nativity, music by Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson and James Whitbourn is featured alongside pieces from the next generation of choral composers including Grace-Evangeline Mason, Kerensa Briggs and Emily Hazrati.
From settings of ancient texts such as O magnum mysterium and Adam lay ybounden to more modern poetry by Ursula Askham Fanthorpe and Charles Anthony Silvestri, the music spans a variety of styles and moods.
Thoughtfully curated and stylishly performed, these premiere recordings narrate the Christmas story from prophecy to birth, adding fresh material to the festive repertoire and highlighting the ongoing creativity of British choral music.
The album is available here.
Hodie Christus natus est
In this contemporary setting of the traditional text Hodie Christus natus est, the piece begins in a hushed, exultant manner marking the news that ‘today Christ was born’. The piece then slowly builds into a climactic moment before a contrasting passage, reminiscent of the opening quietened jubilance, emerges out from underneath the texture. The work builds further yet again and breaks out into a triumphant, canonical Gloria in the upper parts before all the voices are united together at the end to sing ‘Alleluia’ in a still, yet ebullient, moment.
The piece is published as part of the Boosey & Hawkes Contemporary Choral Series, and is available here.
