David Willcocks
David Willcocks’s carol arrangements and descants give traditional Christmas melodies a clear, ceremonial lift: bright upper lines, firm harmony, and textures built for choir and congregation. On these discs his settings sit among the season’s most familiar favourites.
Best known for the Carols for Choirs anthologies he edited, Willcocks wrote and arranged carols for the King’s College Christmas services and for the Bach Choir’s concerts. The versions that travel farthest are practical and singable: sturdy bass, open middle parts, and descants that crown the final verse without smothering the tune. Away in a Manger, God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, Whence is That Goodly Fragrance Flowing, and Blessed be that Maid Mary appear here in that language of English cathedral Christmas, whether carried by children’s and men’s voices, a college choir, or the intimate colours of mandolin and harp. The music is for the feast itself: warm, direct, and built to be repeated year after year.
Compositions by David Willcocks appear on
Mandolin Christmas
Christmas songs for mandolin orchestra. Arguably Australia’s most acclaimed mandolinist, Kurt Jensen leads an international programme of sparkling carols, from mediaeval favourites to modern classics.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, presents a varied selection of twenty-eight Christmas carols. Familiar favourites sit beside Bach and Pachelbel organ pieces and twentieth-century settings.
Ding Dong Merrily on High
A baker's dozen of well-loved traditional Christmas carols featuring children's and men's voices. Recorded in the magnificent acoustics of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.
A Baroque Christmas
The music on this CD is a historical Christmas “pick of the pops”, from the late 1400s to the end of the Baroque period. Directed by Douglas Lawrence, the Australian Chamber Choir offers a programme recorded live in concert during their 2019 European tour. The 17 tracks are drawn from lesser-known seasonal works, championing a sublime repertoire that is all too often neglected.