Various Composers - Nowel. Advent & Beyond (Ensemble Pro Victoria)

Information

1. Piers Connor Kennedy - Advent Calendar
2. Bible Verse - Isaiah 9: 2, 6–7
3. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 1, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
4. Bible Verse - Luke 1: 26–38
5. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 2, Das Röslein, das ich meine
6. Bible Verse - Luke 1: 39–45
7. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 3, Meine Seele erhebt/Wir bitten dich
8. Bible Verse - Luke 2: 1–7
9. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 4, Das Blümelein, so kleine
10. Bible Verse - Luke 2: 8–16
11. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 5, Die Hirten zu der Stunden
12. Bible Verse - Matthew 2: 1–12
13. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 6, Lob, Ehr sei Gott, dem Vater
14. Bible Verse - Luke 2: 25–32
15. Hugo Distler - Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Op. 10: No. 7, So singen wir all Amen
16. Bible Verse - John 3: 16
17. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: I. Procession O Emmanuel
18. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: II. That lovely lady sat and song
19. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: III. Owt of your slepe aryse and wake
20. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: IV. This flour is fayre and fresche of heue
21. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: V. Puer nobis natus est
22. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: VI. Nowel el el
23. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: VII. O sisters too
24. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: VIII. Of a rose, a lovely rose
25. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: IX. When Cryst was born of Mary fre
26. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: X. This rose is reed of colour bryght
27. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: XI. A babe is borne of hye natewre
28. Piers Connor Kennedy - Nowel el el: XII. Recession: O Emmanuel
29. Herbert Howells - A spotless rose
30. David McGregor - O Oriens
31. William Byrd - Lulla, Lullaby
32. Philip Stopford - Lully, Lulla, Lullay
33. Michel Praetorius - Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

Ensemble Pro Victoria

Toby Ward, conductor

Rowan Williams, reciter

Date: 2025

Label: Delphian Records

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Christmas appears in strikingly fresh forms in this programme, shaped by Rowan Williams’s poem Advent Calendar. After three acclaimed Tudor albums, Toby Ward and Ensemble Pro Victoria turn to contemporary reflections on Advent and Christmas, capturing moods of expectation, fragile joy and moments of fear as the Virgin sings amid hardship. Williams narrates the Nativity, while the choir interlaces Hugo Distler’s probing polyphonic variations around it. Piers Connor Kennedy’s Nowel el el for harp and six male voices—recorded here for the first time—offers an intimate counterpoint to Britten’s carol cycle, completing a thoughtful and atmospheric reimagining of the season.

Ensemble Pro Victoria, founded at Cambridge University in 2015 by baritone Humphrey Thompson and artistic director Toby Ward, has quickly become one of Britain’s leading young early music ensembles. Rooted in historical research and high-level performance, the group works closely with academic adviser Magnus Williamson. They won joint-first prize at the 2020 London International Festival of Early Music Young Ensemble Competition, leading to a recording contract with Delphian Records. Their debut album, Robert Fayrfax: Music for Tudor Kings and Queens (2021), received widespread critical acclaim. The ensemble performs widely, including major festivals and reconstructed historical services, and founded the Harrogate Advent Festival in 2021 to support young singers and organists.

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