Christmas Now Is Drawing Near: Engl Folk Carols [Import]

Sneak's Noyse (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 15, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Saydisc
• ASIN: B00000452K
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,239 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Christmas Now Is Drawing Near (Advent): A) Oh, Christmas Now Is ...)

2. Sweet Jesus Born (The Nativity): A) Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny ...)

3. Down in You Forest (Christmas Legends): A) As I Sat on a Sunny Bank/B)

4. Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (Carole Roots): A) English Dance ...)

5. Cold Winter Is Come (Plenty and Poverty): A) The Boar's Head in ...)

6. Remember, O Thou Man (The Christian Message): A) Remember, O Thou Man

7. God Sent You a Happy New Year (Farewell to Christmas): A) The Old Year

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Would there were more, December 23, 2003

By 

R. Fusillo (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas Now Is Drawing Near: Engl Folk Carols (Audio CD)

Christmas is arrived and in perfect form as soon as we put on this CD. The joy we get in hearing it over and over ( I am listening as I type)is tempered by the annoying realization that this group did not make a dozen more like it. I would happily buy them all.
I keep clicking five stars but it doesn't want to do it. I would give it ten.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful, varied & thoughtful collection, December 18, 2003

By 

B. FILBERT (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christmas Now Is Drawing Near: Engl Folk Carols (Audio CD)

I purchased this CD a number of years ago, and have found it to be one of my favorites. It is a superb balance to the "refined" style of carol singing I so enjoy from the famous English choirs. It also gives one something of a sense of what the rural carol tradition was like before the Victorians "gilded" it (though, of course, they also saved many carols, as well). The conceit of this album is that a group of carolers have come to your home, and proceed to offer a wide-ranging concert of Advent and Christmastide pieces (vocal, instrumental, and mixed). The more "primitive" versions of some well-known carols can be found here, as well as some truly ancient-sounding works that probably were current all the way to the end of the 19th century in some parts of England. The concert includes sections focusing on Advent, the Nativity, Christmas Legends, Carol Roots, Plenty and Poverty, The Christian Message, and Farewell to Christmas. All-in-all, I cannot urge you enough to acquire this CD if you are looking for a deeper, more "rustic" take on the Caroling tradition, and the application of these old texts/tunes to the spiritual journey made during Advent and the 12 days of Christmas.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Easily Becomes One's Favorite Christmas Album, December 14, 2005

By 

David K. Jordan (La Jolla, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christmas Now Is Drawing Near: Engl Folk Carols (Audio CD)

I bought this CD several years ago and bought copies for friend after friend as Christmas presents. The style is pre-modern English folk carols, played on period instruments and sung in the everyday accents of the English countryside. One has a sense of Christmas relieving the tedium of a rural northern winter bringing a different, perhaps deeper, joy than it brings today. What other Christmas album could include the provocative line, "Remember, man, that thou art made of clay, and in this world thou hast not long to stay," and yet make the listener want to play the carol over and over? Of my many, many Christmas albums, this has emerged year after year as the favorite.