Christmas 2000

The last of the BBC Music mag cover disks to talk about is the first one that I acquired and my favourite, a fine disk by any standards. It is the one dating from Christmas 2000 ans is titled Christmas Through The Ages, although the subtitle is Christmas at Hyperion since it is a joint venture between the magazine and the record label. Not a carol in site apart from the Coventry Carol and While Shepherds Watched, both of which are given with unfamiliar tunes, the former a setting by Leighton which destroys the mystical feel of the original and the latter in the rollicking Yorkshire pub setting. Otherwise, the featured items range from anonymous medieval settings in England and Spain ( which particularly grab me ) through to Britten, Poulenc and Tavener by way of Praetorius, Bach, Gabrieli, de Lassus, Corelli, Guerrero, Handel and Berlioz ( the last two the predictable but well played For Unto Us A Child Is Born and Shepherd's Farewell ). Among the excellent performers are The Sixteen, The King's Consort, Polyphony, The Parley Of Instruments and the Westminster Cathedral Choir ( much more natural than the mob from the Abbey ). This disk normally gets more than one seasonal outing each year.