Our CD – “Bright Star – Cadenza at Christmas” – is available to stream now!
Online Distributors & Samples
Bright Star marked Cadenza’s first foray into digital distribution, and we’re very pleased with the results.
You can listen to samples from Spotify here:
CD Details
| Jenny Sumerling | Musical Director |
| Morley Whitehead | Organ/Piano |
| David Goodenough | Producer |
| Adam Binks | Producer & Editor |
The 22 tracks were recorded during the last weekend of February 2012, in the fabulous acoustic of St Cuthbert’s Parish Church in Edinburgh. Ten of these, including the title track Bright Star – written specially for Cadenza by our patron, Ben Parry, are world première recordings, with one more receiving its first commercial recording. Cadenza premièred all the finalists in Waverley Care’s international Christmas Carol Writing Competition in 2010, and we are delighted to have been able to include four of these on the CD.
“Bright Star” is a unique collection of contemporary (20th and 21st century) Christmas carols, the majority of which have a Scottish connection, in being either written or arranged by composers who are Scottish or are based in Scotland. As far as we are aware, there is no other CD on the market devoted to contemporary Christmas music from Scotland. Not all the carols will be new or unfamiliar, though the arrangements of some of the better known ones might be. Musical Director, Jenny Sumerling, has selected a variety of choral textures – multi-part (not just SATB!), unison and ladies only. They also include a mix of accompanied (by piano and organ) and a cappella carols.
Not all the composers will be unfamiliar either. They include Ken Johnston, whose “O Columba” and “Song for St Cecilia” were included in Cadenza’s last CD, “Voices of Joy”, Malcolm Archer (Tomorrow shall be my dancing day), Elizabeth Poston (Balulalow), Alan Bullard (the lovely Scots Nativity) and Kenneth Leighton (a hauntingly beautiful arrangement of the Coventry Carol), to name only a few.
The CD has been very warmly received by choral directors, composers, arrangers and audiences. Their verdicts can be found in our news post from 31st October. You can also read about the review by Phillip Sommerich in the 1st December issue of Classical Music Magazine and the full review on our Reviews page.
Track Listing
See below for a complete track listing of Bright Star. Samples are available to listen to via iTunes or Amazon.
| 1. | Tomorrow shall be my Dancing Day | English trad. arr. Malcolm Archer |
| 2. | Bright Star | Ben Parry |
| 3. | Behold the Great Creator | John Lawson Baker |
| 4. | Scots Nativity | Alan Bullard |
| 5. | Coventry Carol | arr. Kenneth Leighton |
| 6. | Sing Nowell | Graham Morrison |
| 7. | Christmas Hymn | Ken Johnston |
| 8. | This Endris Night | Stef Conner |
| 9. | Balulalow | Trad. Scots arr. Elizabeth Poston |
| 10. | The Virgin’s Song | Hermione Roff |
| 11. | Gold for a Manger Bed | Malcolm Archer |
| 12. | Silent Night | arr. Stephen Paulus |
| 13. | We Three Kings | arr. Ralph Allwood |
| 14. | Hodie Christus Natus Est | Andrew Carter |
| 15. | Lute Book Lullaby | Rory Boyle |
| 16. | Carol for Today | Claire Liddell |
| 17. | The Birds | Harold Spicer |
| 18. | There’s a Song in the Air | John Hearne |
| 19. | There is No Rose | Thomas Wilson |
| 20. | Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen | Michael Praetorius, arr. Jan Sandstrom |
| 21. | Taladh Chriosta | John Hearne |
| 22. | Ding! Dong! Merrily on High | arr. Mack Wilberg |
Sponsor: Cadenza would like to thank Wolfson Microelectronics for their support with this project.
