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
