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I S O N M A R K H A R R : P H T O G R A P H Y C O V E R GRAMOPHONE is published by Haymarket Consumer, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 9BE, United Kingdom. gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@haymarket.com Volume 90 Number 1091 EDITORIAL Phone 020 8267 5136 Fax 020 8267 5844 email gramophone@haymarket.com EDITOR Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 8267 5829 REVIEWS EDITOR Andrew Mellor / 020 8267 5125 FEATURES EDITOR James McCarthy / 020 8267 5954 PRODUCTION EDITOR Antony Craig / 020 8267 5874 NEWS EDITOR Charlotte Smith / 020 8267 5155 SUB EDITOR David Threasher / 020 8267 5135 ART EDITOR Lynsey Row / 020 8267 5091 AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard / 020 8267 5029 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson / 020 8267 5861 EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING COORDINATOR Sue McWilliams / 020 8267 5136 GRAMOPHONE SECRETARY Libby McPhee LIBRARIAN Francesco Burns EDITOR IN CHIEF James Jolly THANKS TO Sarah Martin, Hannah Nepil and Marija uric´ Speare ADVERTISING Phone 020 8267 5959 Fax 020 8267 5866 email gramophone.ads@haymarket.com ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Ben Guynan / 020 8267 5408 SALES MANAGER Kane Dalton / 020 8267 5959 SALES EXECUTIVE Taryn Laws / 020 8267 5101 Walter Jennings / 020 8267 5016 CLASSIFIED SALES EXECUTIVE Luke Battersby / 020 8267 5853 SENIOR PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Katie Walton / 020 8267 5219 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES 0844 848 8823 (UK) +44 (0)1795 592980 (overseas) gramophone@servicehelpline.co.uk US & Canada 1 866 918 1446 haymarket@imsnews.com PUBLISHING Phone 020 8267 5136 Fax 020 8267 5844 PUBLISHER Kate Law kate.law@haymarket.com BRAND MANAGER Luca Da Re / 020 8267 5182 PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE Rachel Cramond / 020 8267 5140 LICENSING DIRECTOR Jim James / 020 8267 5110 jim.james@haymarket.com GROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER Stuart White / 020 8267 5420 DIRECT MARKETING MANAGER Lucy Harmer / lucy.harmer@haymarket.com SYNDICATION SALES Roshini Sethi / 020 8267 5396 HAYMARKET CONSUMER MEDIA CREATIVE DIRECTOR Paul Harpin EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Payton SALES DIRECTOR Rachael Prasher STRATEGY & PLANNING DIRECTOR Bob McDowell MANAGING DIRECTOR David Prasher CHIEF EXECUTIVE Kevin Costello PEFC Certified This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources www.pefc.co.uk The December issue of Gramophone is on sale from November 30; the January issue will be on sale from December 28 (both UK). Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing his contract. Regarding concert listings, all information is correct at the time of going to press. Letters to the editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. Printed in England by Wyndeham Heron. ISSN 0017-310X. © 2012 haymarket consumer. All rights reserved North American edition: Gramophone ISSN number 74501X, is published 13 times a year by Haymarket Media Group, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington TW11 9BE, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $89. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. Subscription records are maintained at Haymarket Media Group, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington TW11 9BE. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’ Christmas music: evolving and involving For his Collection on Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, JONATHAN FREEMAN ATTWOOD had imagined there would be similar challenges to his 2004 St Matthew Passion Collection ‘in reconciling various stylistic “mores” with timeless Bachian insights’; instead, it was about ‘admiring how the work’s ineffable Yuletide qualities can be so tellingly explored’. Christmas is one time in the year when even those with the vaguest interest in classical music find themselves listening to and enjoying it – and even joining in. There’s no real reason why it should just be Christmas music of course – that written for Holy Week and Easter is perhaps the most profound liturgical music of all. But the connotations of candles, choristers, carol singers and childhood memories have made music a key custodian and conduit of the Christmas message of love, hope and peace, and for that we should all be grateful. Also, unlike other liturgical music where less adherence to the calendar is generally paid – nobody minds, for example, listening to an Annunciation anthem in mid-Trinity – we get to hear Christmas music only once a year, so let’s revel in it while we can. King among Christmas music of course is the carol, however that’s defined – something Jeremy Nicholas tries to answer, along with some CAROLINE GILL enjoyed meeting Stephen Layton for this month’s The Musician and the Score. ‘To hear the insights of a musician like him, whose work with young and amateur choirs is just as impressive as his work with professional groups, into a cornerstone piece of educational music like Britten’s Saint Nicolas was enormously interesting and enlightening.’ Meeting Neeme Järvi for this month’s feature on the maestro’s new Tchaikovsky project was, for ADAM SWEETING, ‘a bit like encountering a small tornado, bursting with facts, opinions and anecdotes. His spoken English can be a little vague but he gets his meaning across by sheer force of personality. He also has a sly sense of humour.’ tornado, small a encountering like ‘For 30 years, Cleobury has commissioned an annual carol, placing contemporary music at the heart of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s’ of today’s musicians most immersed in the genre. Among these is Stephen Cleobury, director of music at King’s College, Cambridge, home to the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols since 1918. Of any event, this perhaps epitomises everything Christmas conjures in the mind and such an institution could be forgiven for resting on its laurels. But it doesn’t. For 30 years now, Cleobury has commissioned an annual carol, placing contemporary music at the heart of this most high-profile of events. King’s (where our cover photograph was taken) has released a new recording of its much-loved service on its new label – you’ll find it among our round-up of Christmas releases. Looking to the origins of the genre, we talk to conductor David Skinner about performing the earliest-known English polyphonic carols – the Trinity Carol Roll. We also visit the ‘other place’ to report on Worcester College Choir Choir College Worcester on report to place’ College, Keble in carols modern recording recording modern carols in Keble College, Oxford. So we think we’ve covered the genre from beginning to…well, not end, certainly. For, like from genre the covered we’ve think we So Oxford. like For, certainly. end, not to…well, beginning all traditions of worth, the carol continues to to continues carol the worth, of traditions all evolve and, as it does so, involve. So enjoy reading, listening – and indeed singing – and a very Happy Christmas to you all. FOR THE FULL LIST OF GRAMOPHONE REVIEWERS TURN TO PAGE 47 martin.cullingford@haymarket.com gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONE DECEMBER 2012 3

I S O N

M A R K H A R R

:

P H T O G R A P H Y

C O V E R

GRAMOPHONE is published by Haymarket Consumer, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 9BE, United Kingdom. gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@haymarket.com Volume 90 Number 1091 EDITORIAL Phone 020 8267 5136 Fax 020 8267 5844 email gramophone@haymarket.com EDITOR Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 8267 5829 REVIEWS EDITOR Andrew Mellor / 020 8267 5125 FEATURES EDITOR James McCarthy / 020 8267 5954 PRODUCTION EDITOR Antony Craig / 020 8267 5874 NEWS EDITOR Charlotte Smith / 020 8267 5155 SUB EDITOR David Threasher / 020 8267 5135 ART EDITOR Lynsey Row / 020 8267 5091 AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard / 020 8267 5029 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson / 020 8267 5861 EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING COORDINATOR Sue McWilliams / 020 8267 5136 GRAMOPHONE SECRETARY Libby McPhee LIBRARIAN Francesco Burns EDITOR IN CHIEF James Jolly THANKS TO Sarah Martin, Hannah Nepil and Marija uric´ Speare

ADVERTISING Phone 020 8267 5959 Fax 020 8267 5866 email gramophone.ads@haymarket.com ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Ben Guynan / 020 8267 5408 SALES MANAGER Kane Dalton / 020 8267 5959 SALES EXECUTIVE Taryn Laws / 020 8267 5101 Walter Jennings / 020 8267 5016 CLASSIFIED SALES EXECUTIVE Luke Battersby / 020 8267 5853 SENIOR PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Katie Walton / 020 8267 5219

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES 0844 848 8823 (UK) +44 (0)1795 592980 (overseas) gramophone@servicehelpline.co.uk US & Canada 1 866 918 1446 haymarket@imsnews.com

PUBLISHING Phone 020 8267 5136 Fax 020 8267 5844 PUBLISHER Kate Law kate.law@haymarket.com BRAND MANAGER Luca Da Re / 020 8267 5182 PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE Rachel Cramond / 020 8267 5140 LICENSING DIRECTOR Jim James / 020 8267 5110 jim.james@haymarket.com GROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER Stuart White / 020 8267 5420 DIRECT MARKETING MANAGER Lucy Harmer / lucy.harmer@haymarket.com SYNDICATION SALES Roshini Sethi / 020 8267 5396

HAYMARKET CONSUMER MEDIA CREATIVE DIRECTOR Paul Harpin EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Payton SALES DIRECTOR Rachael Prasher STRATEGY & PLANNING DIRECTOR Bob McDowell MANAGING DIRECTOR David Prasher CHIEF EXECUTIVE Kevin Costello

PEFC Certified

This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources www.pefc.co.uk

The December issue of Gramophone is on sale from November 30; the January issue will be on sale from December 28 (both UK). Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing his contract. Regarding concert listings, all information is correct at the time of going to press. Letters to the editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. Printed in England by Wyndeham Heron. ISSN 0017-310X. © 2012 haymarket consumer. All rights reserved North American edition: Gramophone ISSN number 74501X, is published 13 times a year by Haymarket Media Group, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington TW11 9BE, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $89. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. Subscription records are maintained at Haymarket Media Group, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington TW11 9BE. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’

Christmas music: evolving and involving For his Collection on Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, JONATHAN FREEMAN ATTWOOD had imagined there would be similar challenges to his 2004 St Matthew Passion Collection ‘in reconciling various stylistic “mores” with timeless Bachian insights’; instead, it was about ‘admiring how the work’s ineffable Yuletide qualities can be so tellingly explored’.

Christmas is one time in the year when even those with the vaguest interest in classical music find themselves listening to and enjoying it – and even joining in. There’s no real reason why it should just be Christmas music of course – that written for Holy Week and Easter is perhaps the most profound liturgical music of all. But the connotations of candles, choristers, carol singers and childhood memories have made music a key custodian and conduit of the Christmas message of love, hope and peace, and for that we should all be grateful. Also, unlike other liturgical music where less adherence to the calendar is generally paid – nobody minds, for example, listening to an Annunciation anthem in mid-Trinity – we get to hear Christmas music only once a year, so let’s revel in it while we can.

King among Christmas music of course is the carol, however that’s defined – something Jeremy Nicholas tries to answer, along with some

CAROLINE GILL enjoyed meeting Stephen Layton for this month’s The Musician and the Score. ‘To hear the insights of a musician like him, whose work with young and amateur choirs is just as impressive as his work with professional groups, into a cornerstone piece of educational music like Britten’s Saint Nicolas was enormously interesting and enlightening.’

Meeting Neeme Järvi for this month’s feature on the maestro’s new Tchaikovsky project was, for ADAM SWEETING, ‘a bit like encountering a small tornado, bursting with facts, opinions and anecdotes. His spoken English can be a little vague but he gets his meaning across by sheer force of personality. He also has a sly sense of humour.’

tornado, small a encountering like

‘For 30 years, Cleobury has commissioned an annual carol, placing contemporary music at the heart of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s’

of today’s musicians most immersed in the genre. Among these is Stephen Cleobury, director of music at King’s College, Cambridge, home to the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols since 1918. Of any event, this perhaps epitomises everything Christmas conjures in the mind and such an institution could be forgiven for resting on its laurels. But it doesn’t. For 30 years now, Cleobury has commissioned an annual carol, placing contemporary music at the heart of this most high-profile of events. King’s (where our cover photograph was taken) has released a new recording of its much-loved service on its new label – you’ll find it among our round-up of Christmas releases.

Looking to the origins of the genre, we talk to conductor David Skinner about performing the earliest-known English polyphonic carols – the Trinity Carol Roll. We also visit the ‘other place’ to report on Worcester College Choir

Choir College Worcester on report to place’

College, Keble in carols modern recording recording modern carols in Keble College, Oxford. So we think we’ve covered the genre from beginning to…well, not end, certainly. For, like from genre the covered we’ve think we So Oxford.

like For, certainly. end, not to…well, beginning all traditions of worth, the carol continues to to continues carol the worth, of traditions all evolve and, as it does so, involve. So enjoy reading, listening – and indeed singing – and a very Happy Christmas to you all.

FOR THE FULL LIST OF GRAMOPHONE REVIEWERS TURN TO PAGE 47

martin.cullingford@haymarket.com gramophone.co.uk

GRAMOPHONE DECEMBER 2012 3

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