Paul Hillier has lived in Denmark for ten years now, and has developed his own slant on the very English service of Nine Lessons and Carols, a version of which (minus lessons) is presented on this new CD. Hillier's is a smaller-scale, more intimate type of experience than the typical King's College, Cambridge presentation, and contains many unfamiliar musical gems. Biasio Tomasi's Dum deambularet Dominus in Paradisum, for instance, is a delightful little quasi-operatic scena dating from the 17th century, in which four solo voices enact the fall of Adam in the garden. From the same period Alessandro Grandi similarly provides a mini-dramatisation of the annuciation, while Giovanni Francesco Anerio's Voi ch'ai notturni rai joyously surveys the Nativity scene itself. Hillier also unearths Howard Skempton's setting of Adam lay y-bounden, a more introverted and highly impressive alternative to the familiar setting. The standard of singing is consistently outstanding. A marvellous issue.
Performance   *****
Recording       *****