“The First Noël” is another of
those carols that children
used to sing at school Christmas pageants, and it’s still part of carol
services and the Christmas Eve masses. It’s one that has a great descant part
on the chorus—a soaring descant—that even untrained kids can manage. And at church,
if you have a great organ helping the congregation along, it’s quite the
rip-roarer.
This version, “The First
Nowell”, by the King’s Singers, is stylistically different from the traditional
renditions. It starts out with a kind of thrumming, and concludes with just the
faintest baroque ornamentation.
A friend of mine, The Pundit’s
Apprentice, feels about the King’s Singers the way I do about Chanticleer, so
this one’s for him.
1 comment:
I'm touched, Xie. You're right about my preferences, but Chanticleer is a close second, and they do more serious stuff. BTW, the King's Singers now have a Christmas version of "New Day".
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