Angels From Heaven Came: Just in Time for Christmas!

Just in time for the expectation of Advent and the joys of Christmas, Vancouver’s Christ Church Cathedral Choir has released their newest recording, a collection of music for the festive season.

A compilation of music recorded either for CBC’s recording of the Cathedral’s Advent Lessons and Carols service in 2002, or as submissions for the CBC Choral Competition, all tracks share an unusual commonality in that they are unedited.

(That’s pretty rare in this day and age of endless recording sessions, multi-takes, and hours of digital editing!)

The Cathedral Choir is extremely grateful to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, whose kind permission made this disc possible.

The Cathedral Choir has won their category in the CBC Choral Competition each time they have entered: 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2006. In 2006 they also received a competition-wide prize for the Best Performance of a Canadian Work; that work was Jonathan Quick’s Angels From Heaven Came.

The music ranges from the short but perfect O Radix Jesse by Healey Willan to extended works such as Rupert Lang’s How Like an Angel and Herbert Howell’s Long, Long Ago, and from polyphony by Palestrina and Sweelinck to modern works such as the title track.

Five of the thirteen works on the CD are by Canadian composers, including Healey Willan, Matthew Larkin, Diane Loomer, Jonathan Quick, and the Cathedral’s own Rupert Lang. Only two selections are accompanied; Peter Hallock’s Behold a Mighty Prophet includes handbells, and Lang’s How Like an Angel, which includes piano and organ. 

The choir has opted for an environmentally friendly packaging approach. Instead of the usual CD booklet, listeners are directed to a web page that not only lists the usual track information, texts, and translations, but also includes resources such as publishers’ information, photos, and eventually, videos.

Angels From Heaven Came is available through the Cathedral office and also on iTunes and Amazon MP3.

The Cathedral Choir will be performing some of this repertoire in the upcoming Advent Lessons & Carols service on Sunday, November 28 at 4 pm. Drop by for some wonderful music and to pick up your own copy of the CD. As a member of this ensemble I’m very proud of this product and can recommend it highly for all of your Holiday gift giving – just remember to pick up a copy for yourself!