This truly is one of the best Christmas Albums ever! I first heard these singers on a little cassette tape many years ago. I had no idea who the singers were because they were on a Reader' digest tape. Now I no longer have a cassette recorder that works. But it is so wonderful to hear these songs again with this group!
The DELLER CONSORT, one of the earliest groups to revive English Baroque and pre-Baroque music, was established in 1950 by countertenor Alfred Deller. The small ensemble championed works by then-ignored composers such as Henry Purcell and John Dowland and sang Elizabethan and Italian madrigals. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
I worked with all six of these wonderful singers when I was a young chorister, singing in The Three Choirs Festival at Worcester, Hereford & Gloucester cathedrals. My great favourite was Gerald English. His unique timbre, perfect intonation and excellent diction were most memorable - even to a 12 year old boy!
ALFRED GEORGE DELLER (CBE) (31 May 1912 - 16 July 1979), was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularizing the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th Century. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
This has been one of my very favorite Christmas albums and introduced me to the countertenor voice. I had the pleasure to attending Alfred Deller's solo recital in Aspen, Colorado in 1964. What a glorious voice he had!
MAURICE GUY SMALLMAN BEVAN was born in 1921, the son, grandson and great-grandson of Anglican clergymen. His brother Roger founded the Bevan family choir, which toured widely and recorded with many of his 14 children between the 1950s and 1970s. Maurice was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, but was soon called up to join the army. He became a vicar choral at St. Paul's Cathedral Choir in the late 1940s, where he met Deller. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
I remember singing "From out of a wood did a cuckoo fly" (towards the end,) at school. seventy years ago. Have never heard it since! So pretty it should be broadcast more often. Thank you.
This is very possibly the Christmas album that means most to me for its more contemplative tracks, exemplified by the first of these carols, How Far Is It To Bethlehem.
MARY THOMAS Mezzo soprano operatic Mary Thomas was born in 1935. She was strongly associated with the composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and served as his principal soprano in his ensemble The Fires Of London. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
GERALD ENGLISH (Tenor) Born: November 6, 1925 - England The English tenor, Gerald English, studied at the Royal College of Music, and was a pupil of Jennifer Ryan. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
