A Babe is Born. Music for Christmas
St Martin’s Voices/Andrew Earis
rec. 2025, St James’s Church, Islington, London, UK
Texts included
Resonus Classics RES10371 [62]

This is the third album by St Martin’s Voices which has come my way. The first was A Winter Breviary – Choral Works for Christmas which I reviewed in 2023. Then, earlier this year I reviewed their CD devoted to the choral music of Ned Rorem. I was impressed by both of these discs, not only on account of the high quality of the performances but also because the repertoire was so enterprisingly selected. 

This new programme of a cappella Christmas music includes pieces by a number of composers with whose work I’m very familiar; these include David Bednall, Kerensa Briggs, Gabriel Jackson, and Cecilia McDowall. Some of the other names on the list of featured composers were completely new to me. One such is Vicente Chavarría, whose setting of Adam lay ybounden gets the proceedings off to a fine start. The piece is spirited, driven along by rollicking rhythms, and has something of a medieval feel to it, which suits the text very well. I liked this very much. Right at the end of the programme we hear Ed Newton-Rex’s setting of Longfellow’s poem I heard the bells on Christmas Day. This poem dates from 1863, right in the middle of the American Civil War; I think I’m right in saying that Longfellow wrote it on Christmas Day. In her perceptive booklet essay, Helen Stanley helpfully sketches out the background to this poem, pointing out that around this time the poet had lost his wife in a fire and that his son had been badly wounded in the fighting; unsurprisingly, he wasn’t exactly full of Christmas cheer at this time. That said, the poem is surprisingly upbeat at the start; it’s only midway through that melancholy reality intrudes, though Longfellow gathers his spirits and ends the poem on a note of positivity. Ed Newton-Rex responds well to these changes of mood and I think his setting is very successful.

This CD also gave me my first encounter with the music of Esther Bersweden. For a young composer especially, it must be something of a challenge to set the text O magnum mysterium which has already had masterly settings by the likes of Poulenc and Lauridsen. Undaunted, Ms Bersweden has risen to the challenge. Her music has a feeling of gentle awe, which is entirely appropriate to the words. Helen Stanley refers to the “golden harmonic language” of this piece; how right she is! I think this rapt piece is very lovely and I hope it will establish itself in the repertoire. Emily Hazrati is an almost exact contemporary of Esther Bersweden. She, too, has composed a setting of a very familiar text. Her Coventry Carol is a most intense piece and I liked very much the musical variety she brings to the words as the tragic story of the Holy Innocents is related. Ben Ponniah’s The Golden Carol is very different, but no less impressive. His piece sets an anonymous medieval text which concerns the Adoration of the Magi. Ponniah has divided the poem into two stanzas and set it as a quasi-hymn tune. The melody is most attractive and it is winningly harmonised.

I’ve previously heard some of the music by one of the composers almost as an accident of geography. Charlotte Baskerville lives in Gloucestershire, where I also live, and this has meant that I’ve had opportunities to hear a few of her pieces, mostly in performances by the excellent chamber choir, the Saint Cecilia Singers, of which she is assistant director. I don’t recall hearing A tender shoot before. This carol is founded on a simple, tender melody (as befits the title of the piece), which has been most attractively harmonised. I like the way that Ms Baskerville passes the melody around between the various voice parts. This is a most engaging piece and, as I said of the Esther Bersweden piece, I hope A tender shoot will establish itself in the repertoire; a sensitive recorded performance such as this one can only help its cause. I’ve heard and been impressed by several pieces written by the Cornwall-based composer, Becky McGlade. I was very taken with her approach to O come, O come, Emmanuel.  This is about as far as you could get from the robust congregational hymn. McGlade has produced a thoughtful, gentle and deliciously harmonised setting of the words.     

There are no fewer than three items by Cecilia McDowall. Tota pulchra es, an anonymous fourth century hymn of praise to the Virgin, has often invited gentle music but McDowall responds to the words in a rather different way. There’s a good deal of dissonance in her harmonic language and this contributes to the intensity of the setting. She conveys an ambience of strangeness and mystery in this piece. By contrast, Make we joy now in this fest is, as you might expect, more extrovert. Rhythmic irregularities characterise the music and though the singing of the St Martin’s Voices is, as ever, cultivated, that in no way blunts the energy of the piece. The final Cecilia McDowall offering is different again. The Magi sets words by Nicholas Dakin (b 1942). This is, in Helen Stanley’s words, “a dark and dramatic telling of the journey to the manger”. She also references the way in which the music is “suggestive of exotic lands”. I admired the piece, though I think I would have enjoyed it even more if the text had been printed; I presume its omission is for reasons of copyright. I assume the same limitation applies to David Bednall’s BC:AD – This was the moment, a setting of a poem by U A Fanthorpe. All the other texts are printed, though, and I’m especially glad of that in respect of Seeking You by Kerensa Briggs. Ms Briggs has taken what I take to be a very recent poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri (b 1965); I infer that it’s recent because the copyright date in the booklet is 2023. As Helen Stanley puts it, the poem is “[w]ritten in the voice of a weary traveller who journeys to meet the infant Jesus in a stable”. It’s a fine, touching poem and Kerensa Briggs, whose music I’ve long admired, sets it beautifully in a very lovely, thoughtful and perceptive composition.

Though I haven’t specifically discussed every item on this disc I can assure readers that each piece that St Martin’s Voices sing is of the same high quality as those which I’ve picked out for separate discussion. The overall tenor of the programme is contemplative – though there are some pieces which are in a livelier vein – and without exception the pieces are thoughtful in nature and beautifully crafted for voices. If you acquire this disc, I think you will find it rewarding and refreshing.

The eleven singers (4/2/2/3) who make up St Martin’s Voices sing splendidly. The blend is perfect and the sound of the voices is most attractive. Ideally directed by Andrew Earis, the group here confirms the striking impression their previous two discs made on me. Adam Binks, the producer and engineer, has recorded them most sympathetically. The fact that I’ve drawn several times on Helen Stanley’s essay in the booklet demonstrates how helpful I found it.

The consistent quality of both the music and the performances make this a highly impressive Christmas album.

John Quinn

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Contents
Vicente Chavarría (b.1988)
 Adam lay ybounden
Charlotte Baskerville (b.1994)
A tender shoot
Becky McGlade (b.1974)
O come, O come, Emmanuel
Cecilia McDowall (b.1951)
Tota pulchra es
Robert Sharpe (b.1971)
There is no rose
Cecilia McDowall
Make we joy now in this fest
Gabriel Jackson (b.1962)
Christmas Eve
David Bednall (b.1979)
BC:AD – This was the moment
Esther Bersweden (b.1996)
O magnum mysterium
Grace-Evangeline Mason (b.1994)
Hodie Christus natus est
Owain Park (b.1993)
A babe is born
Alan Bullard (b.1947)
Sweet babe, sang she
Kerensa Briggs (b.1991)
Seeking You
Cecilia McDowall
The Magi
James Whitbourn (1963–2024)
Our Gold
Ben Ponniah (b.1984)
The Golden Carol
Emily Hazrati (b.1998)
Coventry Carol
Ed Newton-Rex (b.1987)
I heard the bells on Christmas Day