eatures December 2012

December 2012

PRELUDES

NEWS ANALYSIS

SESSION REPORT

Worcester College Choir record contemporary Christmas carols

THE MUSICIAN AND THE SCORE

Conductor Stephen Layton on Britten’s cantata Saint Nicolas

QUIZ

LETTERS AND OBITUARIES

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

Jeremy Nicholas explores the history of the Christmas carol and talks to composers, conductors and clergy about what it is that makes our most cherished carols so enduringly popular

TRINITY CAROL ROLL

Lindsay Kemp and conductor David Skinner visit Trinity College, Cambridge, to marvel at the earliest surviving source of English polyphonic carols – the Trinity Carol Roll

NEEME JÄRVI INTERVIEW

The irrepressible conductor speaks to Adam Sweeting about the joy of recording Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty

CHRISTMAS DISCS OF

We recommend the recordings that most resound with festive cheer

CRITICS’ CHOICE

The Gramophone critics’ favourite recordings of the past 12 months

MUSICAL JOURNEYS

Opera in Wexford and a piano competition in Calgary

HIGH FIDELITY

An affordable new CD player and amplifier from Cambridge Audio

NEW RELEASES

REVIEWS INDEX

MY MUSIC

Tom Courtenay on singing for Dustin Hoffman

6 GRAMOPHONE DECEMBER 2012

24 A history of Christmas carols

28 The Trinity Carol Roll

30 Neeme Järvi conducts The Sleeping Beauty

36 Rachel Podger: features in Critics’ Choice gramophone.co.uk

J A N S E N

W O U T E R

,

/ A R E N A P A L

B A R D A

I V E

C L

,

S C A N L A N

I E

D E B B

:

P H O T O G R A P H Y