Christmas Carol

This carol was commissioned in 2002 by King’s College, Cambridge for their famous service of Nine Lessons and Carols. It tells the start of the familiar Christmas story: Gabriel's Annunciation; praise to the Virgin before she too sings 'my soul doth magnify the Lord'; the shepherds a-watching their flocks by night; the angelic chorus in the sky; the fusion of celestial and earthy around the crib holding the baby who is also 'Lord of Time & Space'.

The text is from a variety of sources: anonymous carols of the 15th,16th & 17th centuries, Edmund Bolton (1611, 'Sweet music, sweeter far...'), the Gloria from the Mass, and a couple of lines fromwell-loved Anglican hymns.

Selected for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s ‘Encore’ project, this carol will offer some challenge to intermediate choirs, but will add some originality to a carol service or Christmas concert.