Favourite Christmas Carols

~ Release by The Westminster Abbey Choir and Harry Secombe (see all versions of this release, 2 available)

Tracklist

1▼CD
#TitleRatingLength
1O Come All Ye Faithful
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
vocals:
Sir Harry Secombe (actor, comedian, singer, television presenter)
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
O Come, All Ye Faithful (English version of Latin “Adeste fideles”)
lyricist and composer:
John Francis Wade (from 1740 until 1743)
translator:
Frederick Oakeley (in 1841)
arrangement of:
O Come, All Ye Faithful
translated version of:
Adeste fideles (original latin version)
3:10
2Masters in This Hall
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Masters in This Hall
lyricist:
William Morris (English poet / Arts and Crafts movement)
composer:
Gustav Holst (composer)
4:08
3Good King Wenceslas
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Good King Wenceslas
lyricist:
John Mason Neale (in 1853)
composer:
[traditional] (special purpose artist) (from 1201 until 1301)
arranger:
Thomas Helmore (in 1853)
part of:
Roud Folk Song Index (number: 24754)
is based on:
Tempus adest floridum (13th-century carol)
2:31
4Away in a Manger
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
vocals:
Sir Harry Secombe (actor, comedian, singer, television presenter)
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Away in a Manger (aka “Cradle Song” composed by William J. Kirkpatrick)
additional lyricist:
Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (in 1892)
lyricist:
[anonymous] (special purpose artist)
composer:
William James Kirkpatrick (hymn-writer) (in 1895)
part of:
Roud Folk Song Index (number: 25304)
is based on:
Sweet Afton (set to music by Jonathan E. Spilman, 1837)
translated version of:
Y Preseb
3:08
5It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (carol version)
lyricist:
Edmund Sears (American church author)
composer:
Richard Storrs Willis
part of:
The New English Hymnal (hymn book) (number: 29)
is based on:
CAROL (hymn tune)
is based on:
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (poem)
3:10
6Personent Hodie
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Personent Hodie (arr. Holst; aka “On This Day”; “Christmas Song”)
lyricist and composer:
[anonymous] (special purpose artist)
arranger:
Gustav Holst (composer) (in 1916)
version of:
Personent hodie (1582 version)
part of:
Three Carols
3:07
7Once in Royal David's City
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
vocals:
Sir Harry Secombe (actor, comedian, singer, television presenter)
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Once in Royal David’s City
lyricist:
Cecil Frances Alexander (in 1848)
composer:
Henry John Gauntlett (in 1849)
part of:
The New English Hymnal (hymn book) (number: 34)
3:19
8Noël Suisse
organ:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Nouveau livre de Noëls: Nº. 12. Noël suisse "O dieu de clémence"
composer:
Louis‐Claude Daquin
part of:
Nouveau livre de Noëls
4:13
9Silent Night
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
vocals:
Sir Harry Secombe (actor, comedian, singer, television presenter)
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Silent Night (Christmas carol, English translation)
lyricist:
Josef Mohr (in 1816)
composer:
Franz Xaver Gruber (in 1818)
translator:
John Freeman Young (in 1859)
part of:
Roud Folk Song Index (number: 27088)
translated version of:
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
3:34
10We Three Kings
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
We Three Kings
lyricist and composer:
John Henry Hopkins, Jr. (composer, “We Three Kings”)
part of:
Roud Folk Song Index (number: 24751)
3:11
11Rocking
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Rocking (arr. Willcocks)
lyricist and composer:
[traditional] (special purpose artist)
arranger:
Sir David Willcocks (UK composer, organist, choral conductor)
arrangement of:
Rocking (carol)
1:35
12Hark the Herald Angels Sing
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
vocals:
Sir Harry Secombe (actor, comedian, singer, television presenter)
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Christmas carol)
additional lyricist:
George Whitefield (in 1753)
lyricist:
Charles Wesley (hymn writer) (in 1739)
composer:
Felix Mendelssohn (composer) (in 1840)
arranger:
William H. Cummings (in 1855)
part of:
The New English Hymnal (hymn book) (number: 26)
3:04
13The Coventry Carol
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Coventry Carol
lyricist:
Robert Croo (16th-century lyricist of "The Coventry Carol") (in 1534)
composer:
[traditional] (special purpose artist)
part of:
Roud Folk Song Index (number: 19028)
3:19
14O Little Town of Bethlehem
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
O Little Town of Bethlehem (traditional carol with the tune “St. Louis”, as commonly sung in the U.S.)
lyricist:
Phillips Brooks (in 1868)
composer:
Lewis Henry Redner (in 1868)
is based on:
St. Louis (hymn tune)
3:16
15The First Nowell
choir vocals:
Westminster Abbey Choir
vocals:
Sir Harry Secombe (actor, comedian, singer, television presenter)
conductor:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
The First Nowell
lyricist, writer and composer:
[traditional] (special purpose artist)
part of:
Roud Folk Song Index (number: 682)
3:23
16Noël in G Major
organ:
Martin Neary (English organist and choral conductor)
recording of:
Nouveau livre de Noëls: Nº. 10. Bon Joseph. écoutez-moi
composer:
Louis‐Claude Daquin
part of:
Nouveau livre de Noëls
5:13

Credits