キャロルズ・フロム・クイーンズ

This album appeared in 2015 in response to the seemingly insatiable appetite for a cappella Christmas music in Britain and beyond. But it has several strong points that would seem to promise strong interest for years to come. "Queen's" is Queen's College, Oxford, whose choir (mixed gender, young adult) has a history centuries long; the famous Boar's Head Carol included on this set seems to have originated here. One strong point is that Avie's engineers recorded Carols from Queen's in the smaller Keble College Chapel rather than in the acoustically and emotionally more distant Queen's College Chapel. This puts the focus on the vocal blend of these young singers, which is smoothly flawless without being rarefied, and on their diction and ability to communicate the sense of well-worn texts. Sample the limpid, devotional Bethlehem Down of Peter Warlock. Most of the music is tonal and simple; the contemporary composer represented (twice) is John Tavener, whose O, do not move opens the program on a note of hushed mystery. A reverential, but not stuffy, Christmas album by one of England's very best collegiate choirs.