Christmas Once As I Remember: with Sir John Eliot Gardiner

A family Christmas, 75 years in the making.
In 1948, a small boy called John Eliot Gardiner took part in a nativity play his mother had created at their family home in Dorset, England. Schoolchildren, farmers and local craftspeople performed a mix of carols, readings and mime every Christmas for years. Decades later, Gardiner – now one of the world’s most celebrated conductors – has turned those childhood memories into a concert programme. Once As I Remember gathers centuries of Christmas music from across Europe – sung in Latin, English, German and more – and weaves it into something deeply personal, joyful and full of warmth.

The music: Robert Cowper: «Gloria in excelsis Deo»; Compositeur anonyme: «Angelus ad virginem»; Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: «Alma redemptoris Mater»; Compositeur anonyme: «Gabriel’s message» (Chant de Noël basque); Giovanni Bassano: «Hodie Christus natus est»; Compositeur anonyme: «Jolly Shepherd»; Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: «Hodie Christus natus est»; Compositeur anonyme: «Past Three A Clock» · «Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen» · «There is no rose of such virtu»; Lajos Bárdos: «Ave maris stella»; Herbert Howells: «A Spotless Rose»; William Byrd: «O magnum mysterium»; Compositeur anonyme: «This Endris Night» · «Entre le bœuf» · «Guillô, pran ton tambourin» · «Psallite Ho la hé»; Richard Dering: «Quem vidistis, pastores?»; Robert Lucas Pearsall: «In dulce jubilo»; Compositeur anonyme: «The Cradle»; William Byrd: «Lullaby»; Compositeur anonyme: «El Rorro» · «Once As I remember»; Johann Gottfried Walther: «Joseph, lieber Joseph mein»; John Gardner: «Entry Of The Three Kings»; Compositeur anonyme: «The King Of All Kings»; Robert Armstrong: «Ring out ye crystal spheres»; Thomas Weelkes: «Gloria in excelsis Deo»; Giovanni Gabrieli: «Salvator Noster»
The artists: The Constellation Choir & Orchestra; Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)