Paul Hindemiths messe fra 1963 hører til blandt noget af det sværeste kormusik, der er skrevet. Ikke at lytte til, men at synge. Et helt egenartet tonesprog af knivskarpe dissonanser og frie toner, der pludselig afveksles af store suk af rene treklange, der igen knuses.
"Smadrede Tallerkner" fejrer nytåret og begyndelsen på lysets tilbagekomst. Baseret på en gammel dansk tradition - at knuse tallerkner og potter på naboens dør, som et tegn på venskab - giver Ars Nova og Paul Hillier deres nytårshilsen i form af lyden af knuste toner. Men dog også lyden af lysets komme. Hindemiths Messe omkranses af skønne renaissance-værker af Eccard, Victoria, Goudimel, Wert og ikke mindst et af Palestrinas mest kendte værker: Sicut Cervus.
Paul Hillier skriver om programmet:
"This program celebrates the New Year and the beginning of the return of light. The Christmas story is still unfolding, with the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, Herod's massacre of the Innocents, and the Epiphany - the manifestation of a star guiding the three kings westward. Googling for a traditional custom that would represent this idea I came upon the apparently old Danish custom of making a pile of old dishes, and at New Year throwing them against the front door: the more broken fragments, the more friends you will have in the coming year. I found this idea very attractive and even perhaps very Danish! Unfortunately, when I asked my Danish friends about this, none of them was aware of any such custom. Undaunted, and unwilling to waste a good title, I decided to go ahead anyway and invent tradition in the best Victorian manner! Meanwhile, one of the singers of the group found that H.C. Andersen has written about this custom. In his story 'Årets Historie' from 1852 he writes: »'Der løb nu menneskene om og skød nytår ind,' sagde en lille forfrossen spurv, 'de slog potter på døre og var rent ellevilde af glæde over at nu gik det gamle år væk'«."
