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Hodie: A Christmas Cantata, Fantasia on Christmas Carols | 
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| Creators: Stephen Roberts [baritone], Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Gale, Robert Tear
Label: EMI Classics Imports
Category: Music
Buy Used: $49.88
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 146084
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 077775412826
EAN: 0077775412826
ASIN: B000005GJK
Release Date: September 4, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: in near mint condition. 1st class shipping
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| Tracks:
| • | Fantasia on Christmas Carols - Ralph Vaughan Williams, Williams, Ralph Vau | | • | No. 1, "Nowell! Nowell!, prologue (Vespers for Christmas) | | • | No. 2, "Now the Birth of Jesus Christ (narration (St. Matthew I & St. Luke I) | | • | No. 3, "It was the winter wild", Song (Milton's Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity) | | • | No. 4, "And it came to pass in those days" narration (St. Luke II) | | • | No. 5, "The Blessed Son of God", Choral (Coverdale after Luther) | | • | No. 6, "And there were in the same country", narration (St. Luke & the Prayer Book) | | • | No. 7, "The Oxen": "Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock" | | • | No. 8, "And the shepherds returned", narration | | • | No. 9, "The Shepherds Sing", pastoral | | • | No. 10, "But Mary kept all these things", narration (St. Luke II) | | • | No. 11, "Sweet was the song", lullaby | | • | No. 12, "Bright portals of the sky", hymn | | • | No. 13, "Now when Jesus was born", narration (St. Luke II) | | • | No. 14, "The March of the Three Kings" | | • | No. 15, "No sad thought his soul affright", choral | | • | No. 16, "In the beginning", epilogue (John I & Milton's Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
I wish more people knew about this fabulous piece. Christmas is often a painful time for classical music lovers, when Handel's Messiah, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, and the usual carols get hauled out and overplayed to the point of insanity. There is, in fact, lots of great Christmas music that almost never gets performed or recorded, including this tuneful and brilliant cantata. This is only its second recording ever, and anyone who hears it is sure to put it on a list of holiday favorites. In fact, like all great music, it's worthy listening to for its own sake any time of the year at all. --David Hurwitz
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| Customer Reviews:
Magnificent Christmas Music December 23, 2008
D. A Wend (Buffalo Grove, IL USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Fantasia on Christmas Carols was composed in 1912 and was first performed at the Three Choirs Festival. The music takes fours carols: The truth sent from above, Come all you worthy gentlemen, On Christmas night and The First Nowell. Vaughan Williams masterfully arranged the melodies for choir and baritone.
Hodie: A Christmas Cantata was written in 1952 when the composer was 80 years old. The music is a large scale setting of the events of the Nativity drawn from the King James Bible, the Book of Common Prayer. The narration of events is intersperced with poetry from various sources from Milton, Martin Luther, Thomas Hardy and others. The energetic beginning is passionate and bold, the trumpet fanfare announcing the rejoicing that follows. A huge orchestra is demanded by the score including harp, piano, organ, celesta and a variety of percussion with two choirs, mezzo, baritone and tenor. The music is shows the influence of the Seventh and Eighth in the use of the glittery sound of the celesta, extended percussion and the bold mixing of the brass. The soprano sings the Milton poem "It was the winter wild" sung beautifully on this recording by Elizabeth Gale. The Hardy poem "The Oxen" is tinged with regret for lost faith the youth does not question, and receives a very sensitive performance here. The March of the Three Kings is the longest section of the work and sets words by Ursula Vaughan Williams; there is a long, marvelous orchestral introduction with the words sung by a chorus (joined later by the soloists) announcing the kings and their gifts.
Rather than close the cantata with words from the Bible, Vaughan Williams turned to Milton, once again, with Ring out, ye celestial spheres; the verses bring the hope of new beginnings and healing. This brings together all of the various forces in a glorious conclusion.
This is a splendid recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Christmas music which I don't think has been surpassed. The London Symphony Orchestra and the soloists and choirs make magnificent music under Richard Hickox's direction.
I Searched for Years to Find This CD!!! December 17, 2001
Paul W. Patterson, Jr. (Evanston, Illinois United States)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
The final movement of Hodie captures perfectly Vaughan Williams' gripping blend of mysticism, regal glory, and human hope. The treatment of Fantasia on Christmas Carols comes right to the true bittersweet feeling of Christmas--family vs misunderstanding; hope vs trouble. My wife and I were decorating our Christmas tree during a major snow storm in our beautiful, old Chicago suburb of Evanston when I heard Fantasia on Christmas Carols for the first time, and the classical music station was playing this version. I had lost my father in October, and by the end of this piece which seems so ordinary at the start, I was completely taken over with tears. When I tried to get this CD, I was told that it was no longer available. After several years, I found this wonderful CD and it is better than any other recorded treatment of these two pieces that I have ever heard. Attention Amazon.Com Shoppers! If it is available, even during a summer heat wave, GET IT NOW! It may disappear again, and this time forever. (...)
Memorable modal mosaic November 7, 2001
Lee Hartsfeld (Heath, OH United States)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Composed in the early 1950s, Vaughan Williams' Christmas cantata "Hodie" sounds in many spots like background music for "Star Wars" or some widescreen "Son of Cleopatra" epic. This is because Hollywood has made a cliche of practically every melodic and harmonic device known to humankind, though the altered pentatonic scale of "Bright portals of the sky" must have sounded pretty new at the time, to say nothing of Vaughan Williams' other adventures in creative chromaticism. But suffice it to say that this is no background music for a Steven Spielberg epic. It is a deeply moving and deeply serious work of enormous merit, filled with life-affirming melodies that never lose their welcome with each reuse and retransformation throughout the piece. In keeping with the title, "Hodie," the music assumes the character of an event with no beginning or end. The overall effect is overwhelming, and I'm happy to say that after numerous listenings, I am no longer reminded of science-fiction movie cues; Vaughan Williams' music is infinitely more than that. The perfect Christmas CD!
 Christmas Music with Backbone December 13, 1999
John F Walters
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
After the nth recording of "Messiah," it's great to have these underappreciated works available on CD. Vaughan Williams' music is wonderfully melodic, but it always has a hard edge to it. A reviewer I read many years ago described the quality of "fierce caring" that marks all RVW's music. "Hodie" has lovely carols like "It Was the Winter Wild" and "The Blessed Son of God Only" that will please the most casual listener. But the Jesus of this cantata isn't just "Gentle Jesus, Meek & Mild," he is also "King of Kings and Lord of Lords," and there is a tragic as well as a triumphant quality to some of the music--see the "March of the Three Kings," for instance. I still get very emotional every time I listen to this music, even after all these years.The quality of the performance is excellent, but I prefer the old recording from the 60s on Angel, especially the balance between organ and orchestra in the final movement, and I wish it were available on CD.
A Great Performance December 1, 1999
Bill Wepfer (Atlanta, GA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is an excellent piece of music and the performance is marvelous. Too bad it is not performed more widely. After 25 years of playing the old vinyl LP, I am delighted to have the CD version !
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