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Christmas by The Gesualdo Six

For centuries Christmas and the surrounding seasons have inspired composers to new heights of invention. This programme reaches across the ages, from the eternal beauty of the Tudor church right up to the twenty-first century, with each piece chosen to evoke a sense of mystery and joy.

In the Renaissance, Advent-the weeks preceding the celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas-was a time of wonder and reflection. Centuries-old carols tell this story, with some works presented here in their inherited form, others reimagined by skilled arrangers. Pieces that focus on the birth of Christ form the backbone of this collection: Thomas Hardy's tableau of the scene on Christmas Eve is particularly striking, alongside music that heralds the baby's arrival and offers insight into the first few weeks of Jesus's life. Themes and forms are echoed through the ages: two lullabies, though written centuries apart, employ coaxing refrains to be sung to disquieted children; some of the most exquisite melodies are found in works dedicated to Mary.

I hope that we have managed to capture something of the festive spirit, with moments of stillness set against joyful exuberance. It is music that we thoroughly enjoy singing-we all feel a certain magic when we revisit this repertoire towards the end of each year.

Veni Emmanuel is an Advent hymn dating back to the Middle Ages, its roots being in plainchant antiphons used in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It is known to many in its English translation, `O come, Emmanuel', heralding the arrival of the saviour. Philip Lawson's arrangement pays homage to the chant-based melody, the sensitive writing for the accompanying parts gently supporting the familiar tune.

German composer and theorist Michael Praetorius was one of the most versatile and prolific composers of his generation, but is perhaps best known for his adaptations of Protestant hymns. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland a 6 takes a text by Martin Luther-a translation of the hymn `Veni, redemptor gentium'-and sets it to dramatic rhetorical effect, with imitative textures and arresting gestures constantly seizing the listener's attention. As each new segment of the melody is introduced it is shortly followed by a series of increasingly florid embellishments-a constant rewiring of the texture that is interrupted with great impact to herald the final line, `Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt' (`that God ordained him such a birth').

The Annunciation, a setting of words by the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir, was composed in 2011 for the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, by British composer Jonathan Harvey who believed this would be his final work. Harvey sought a form of spirituality with unity at its core, with particular emphasis on the interaction between energy and stillness, an approach that finds a parallel in the Advent season's combination of expectation and reflection. The beginning of each stanza is marked by the introduction of a musical idea that subtly refers back to the opening statement. A moment of calm in the centre of the work-`Feathered through time'-is later recaptured, as the `deepening trance' of the final stanza is brought alive with a beautiful series of closing chords.

Videte miraculum is a choral respond by Thomas Tallis which uses plainsong both as a solo line and dissolved into a beautifully woven six-part polyphonic texture. Particularly striking is the opening point of imitation on `miraculum'-a dissonance repeated in each vocal entry to hypnotic effect-as well as the radiant harmony at `Et matrem' which seems to gain in intensity each time it returns (also notable as the piece is thought to have been written when Queen Mary I was with child).

Cheryl Frances-Hoad's The promised light of life sets a Latin text by St Bede, which is briefly conflated with a short phrase in English from the Revelation of St John the Divine: `I am the bright and morning star.' The voices are gradually revealed through the building-up of chords, an effect repeated at the end of the piece. The middle section is coloured by long melismatic vocal lines, highlighting the word `aeternam' (`everlasting').

Gaudete, meaning `rejoice', is a medieval carol related to the third Sunday of Advent, known as `Gaudete Sunday'. The song was first published in about 1582 in a Scandinavian volume called Piae Cantiones. The simple tune of each verse is answered by the pithy refrain or `burden', harmonized in this version by Brian Kay.

Having spent several years collecting folk songs for The English Hymnal, Ralph Vaughan Williams skilfully arranged The truth sent from above with harmonies that echo the style of the Tudor composers he so admired. The text and melody were later used in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols, first performed in Hereford Cathedral in 1912. For the final verse Owain Park has reimagined some of these harmonies in a more contemporary light, subtly referencing chord progressions from Vaughan Williams's own works.

The German hymn Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen first appeared in print in 1599, and was commonly sung to a melody harmonized by Michael Praetorius ten years later. The first verse describes a rose sprouting from the stem of the Tree of Jesse, an image that was especially popular in medieval times and featured in many works of religious art from the period. Since the nineteenth century other verses have been added, with most focusing on the fragrance of the tender flower which dispels darkness and evil.

Angelus ad virginem is a popular medieval carol that appeared in at least six manuscripts from the late thirteenth to the mid-sixteenth century in England, France and Ireland. The words appeared in Latin (`Angelus ad virginem') as well as English (`Gabriel fram evene king') with subtle differences in the melody across the sources. The complete poem, which tells the story of the angel Gabriel's visit to Mary, is said to have originally consisted of twenty-seven stanzas, each beginning with the consecutive letter of the alphabet. Here we perform a more modest four verses, gradually adding voices as the piece progresses.

Lullay my liking was written by Gustav Holst for a Whitsun festival in Thaxted. The refrain is an early example of an English lullaby; the term `lullaby' is thought to have originated in the sounds made to calm fretful children-in this case `lu lu' or `la la', or `bye bye' as heard in the similarly ancient Coventry Carol. Though it is known that Holst preferred each verse to be sung by the same soprano soloist, here we have assigned each verse to a different singer to bring out the nuances of the text.

John Rutter composed There is a flower in 1985 at the invitation of George Guest, then organist and choir director of St John's College, Cambridge. The words were written by fifteenth-century priest and poet John Audelay, who focuses on the imagery of a `Jesse Tree', whose branches offer a sign of new life and were often depicted in medieval painting and stained glass. The melody effortlessly rises towards the middle of each verse before falling back down, much like the blooming and withering of a flower. Rutter takes us on a journey through different textures, with moments for solo voice juxtaposed with six-part chordal writing. Particularly effective is the orchestration of the fourth verse, where the upper voices depict flights of angels singing `Alleluia' over the tune in the lower parts.

With over 500 works attributed to his name, Jacob Handl was a prolific composer of the late Renaissance, writing during the Counter-Reformation in Bohemia. The festive motet Canite tuba opens with a striking descending motif that introduces all five lower voices in quick succession. The texture is often busy and involved, with parts occasionally joining together in twos or threes to emphasize important moments in the text. Melodic lines commonly a