Once, As I Remember... (CD)

'Once, As I Remember...' is John Eliot Gardiner's recreation of the story of Christmas based on the Springhead Christmas Play. A nativity play made up of music, speech, dance and mime took place almost every Christmas in the Millroom at Springhead, home of the Gardiner family in Fontmell Magna, Dorset. The actors were school-children, farmers, farmhands and local craftsmen and women and teachers, supplemented, as the years went on, by young professional singers from London who came to celebrate the period between Christmas and New Year in Dorset. The play was the brain-child of Marabel Gardiner, who directed the mime and her husband Rolf who gave the readings which punctuated the music and action. Their three children, of whom John Eliot Gardiner is the youngest, all took part in one capacity or another.

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Taking as its source almost exclusively music performed at those Christmas family and friend gatherings, the selection is amplified with music that Gardiner feels would have been a perfect fit for the time. The range is eclectic, the performances exquisite and Gardiner writes the extensive and affectionate note that accompanies this release.

TRACK LIST

ROBERT COWPER: Gloria in excelsis Deo
Katherine Fuge & Nicola Jenkin, sopranos
Elinor Carter, alto
Julian Podger, tenor

ANON
Ave Maria, gratia plena
Sara Mingardo, soprano

Angelus ad Virginem

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA: Alma Redemptoris Mater
Julian Podger, tenor

ANON.:Gabriel’s message

GIOVANNI BASSANIO: Hodie Christus natus est
Jeremy West & Michael Harrison, cornets
Sackbutts: Susan Addison, alto
Abigail Newman, tenor
Adam Woolf, tenor
Robert Goodhew, bass
Ian Watson, organ

ANON.: Jolly Shepherd
Rachel Beckett, soprano recorder
Noel Mann, drum

JAN PIETERSZOON SWEELINCK: Hodie Christus natus est
Jeremy West & Michael Harrison, cornets
Sackbutts: Susan Addison, alto
Abigail Newman, tenor
Adam Woolf, tenor
Robert Goodhew, bass

ANON.:
Past three a clock
Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen
There is no rose of such virtu
LAJOS BARDOS: Ave maris stella

HERBERT HOWELLS: A Spotless Rose
Michael McCarthy, solo bass

WILLIAM BYRD: O magnum mysterium

HEINRICH SCHUTZ: Ach Herr, Du Schöpfer
Ian Watson, organ

ANON.:
This endris night
Entre le boeuf

Guillô, pran ton tamborin
Rachel Beckett, soprano recorder
Noel Mann, drum

Psallite
Sackbutts: Susan Addison, alto
Abigail Newman, tenor
Robert Goodhew, bass
Ian Watson, organ

RICHARD DERING: Quem vidistes pastores?
Jeremy West & Michael Harrison, cornets
Sackbutts: Susan Addison, alto
Abigail Newman, tenor
Adam Woolf, tenor
Robert Goodhew, bass
Ian Watson, organ

ANON.: The Cradle
WILLIAM BYRD: Lullaby
ANON.:
El Rorro
Once as I remember
JOHN TAVENER: The Lamb
JOHANN GOTTLIEB WALTHER: Joseph lieber, Joseph mein

JOHN ELIOT GARDNER: Entry of the Three Kings
John Anderson, oboe/cor anglais

ANON.: The King of all Kings
Katherine Fuge, soprano solo

ROBERT ARMSTRONG: Ring out ye crystal spheres
THOMAS WEELKES: Gloria in excelsis deo

Monteverdi Choir
John Eliot Gardiner