A spotless Rose - Herbert Howells, John Rutter, Nicholas Sears, The Cambridge Singers
5. A Spotless Rose
From the album 'Christmas Night'
Composer Herbert Howells
Conductor John Rutter
Baritone Nicholas Sears
Choir The Cambridge Singers
Buy, download or stream: https://smarturl.it/XmasNight
Find more of the catalogue and curated playlists by subscribing to the channel:
Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnruttermusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnmrutter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrutter.composer
Website: https://www.johnrutter.com
A Spotless Rose
According to its composer, this 'carol-anthem' was written at a single sitting, on 22 October 1919. It remains one of the best-loved and most characteristic examples of his style: sensitive, melodically fluent, harmonically rich and subtle, and of an exquisite choral sonority.
LYRICS:
A spotless Rose is blowing,
Sprung from a tender root,
Of ancient seers’ foreshowing,
Of Jesse promised fruit;
Its fairest bud unfolds to light
Amid the cold, cold winter,
And in the dark midnight.
The Rose which I am singing,
Whereof Isaiah said,
Is from its sweet root springing
In Mary, purest Maid;
For, through our God’s great love and might,
The blessed Babe she bare us
In a cold, cold winter’s night.
Christmas Night
The theme of the album - Christmas Night - is the birth of Christ, reflected in the words and music of twenty-two carols spanning more than six centuries. Some of these carols have long been widely known and loved; others have become so thanks to the annual Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge. But all of them focus on the central event of the Christmas story – the birth at Bethlehem – and on the characters in that story: the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, and the mother with her child.
John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1983) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.
Contact
