Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Wachet Auf!
2. Advent Responsory
3. Wachet Auf, BWV 645
4. Of the Father's Heart
5. Angelus Ad Virginem
6. Holly and the Ivy
7. I Sing of a Maiden
8. Ding Dong! Merrily on High
9. O Come All Ye Faithful
10. There Is No Rose
11. Es Ist Ein Ros' Entsprungen
12. Silent Night
13. O Little Town of Bethlehem
14. I Saw Three Ships
15. Sweet Was the Song
16. Personent Hodie
17. Away in a Manger
18. Resonet in Laudibus
19. Up! Good Christen Folk
20. First Nowell
21. Shepherds' Farewell
22. Three Kings
23. Unto Us Is Born a Son
24. Coventry Carol
25. What Cheer?
26. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
27. In Dulci Jubilo

Disc 2:

1. Wake, O Wake
2. Angel Gabiel
3. Noël: Chantons
4. Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene
5. Hymn to the Virgin
6. Noel
7. This Is the Record of John
8. Child Is Born in Bethlehem
9. Once in Royal David's City
10. Rejoice, Rejoice in Christ
11. Hodie Christus Natus Est
12. Great and Mighty Wonder
13. O Little One Sweet
14. In Dulci Jubilo
15. Noel: Mais Onsan Es Allé Nau
16. Blessed Son of God
17. O Ye Little Flock
18. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
19. Shepard's Cradle Song
20. Lamb
21. As With Gladness
22. Here Is the Little Door
23. In the Bleak Midwinter
24. Rhapsodie Sur des Noëls
25. Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
26. Illuminare, Jerusalem
27. Noël: Le Roy des Cieux
28. Coventry Carol
29. Benedicamus Domino

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3229 in Music
• Released on: 1996-07-16
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Amazon.com
This absolutely essential Christmas collection is actually a combination of two Trinity College Choir recordings originally released separately under the titles "Carols from Trinity" and "A Child Is Born," the latter of which is still offered as a single CD. This two-disc set is a great value, both financially and musically. Here are 53 of the finest, most popular, best-loved, and best-sung Christmas carols, anthems, and motets from medieval times to the present, performed and recorded in the wonderful acoustic space of the Trinity College Chapel. Unlike the choirs of Trinity's famous Cambridge neighbors, King's and St. John's colleges--which consist entirely of men and boys, Trinity is a mixed ensemble with female sopranos and altos. The tone, blend, and balance are exquisite and the combination of the three stands as an ideal, and the choir's ensemble technique and musicianship are unsurpassed. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews

Excellent English cathedral recording
This is absolutely one of my favorite choral CDs. The choir does so many things so well. Diction and intonation are uniformly excellent, and above all the musical phrasing is exquisite throughout. If you like English carols, you really owe it to yourself to get this recording.

Note that there are two CDs on this recording--you get more than your money's worth of music. (I should point out that the choir does abbreviate some of the longer hymns--"Once in Royal David's City" gets cut down to three verses, for example--which I find slightly annoying but others may appreciate.) There is a variety of musical styles, including several hymns with descants, a little bit of Bach and some modern carol settings. There are a few organ solo pieces as well, though these are quite short.

I give this recording my very highest recommendation.

One of the very best recordings of its type
This recording looks back to the English choral tradition as it was in its heyday during the 1950's and 1960's, when The Choir of Kings College issued so many wonderful recordings under Boris Ord and Donald Willcocks.Kings is still in business, of course, but today Richard Marlowe and the Choir of Trinity College are better exponents of this tradition than Kings College itself, at least on the evidence of this recording. The choice of music on these two CDs is widely varied and the price is certainly right.Best of all, this recording can work for many different audiences, from those who know the English tradition, to those who know only the pop-inflected John Rutter version of it, to those who have never heard an English choir but can appreciate musical "comfort food," especially at Christmas time.

Exquisite descants and flawless performance
I have had the Carols from Trinity CD for years and,without doubt, it is the most delicious selection of Christmas music from the English tradition executed in the most exquisite manner. I also have A Child is Born, which, although splendid, is not as captivating as the first collection.
Particularly breathtaking are Richard Marlowe's gorgeous descants. They soar! Listen to "O Little Town of Bethlehem", it makes the back of your neck tingle! Similarly, "While Shepherds Watched" comes to new life in Marlowe's arrangement.
I have yet to find a finer set of Carols performed so flawlessly.