Christmas Night


Christmas Night is a Christmas-themed album by The Cambridge Singers conducted by John Rutter. Most songs are sung a cappella, on others the choir is accompanied by The City of London Sinfonia. It was first released in 1987 on Rutter’s label Collegium Records.

The album

The CD version of Christmas Night contains 22 Christmas carols spanning more than six centuries. Most of these have become well known thanks to the Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College in Cambridge. Some arrangements for the carols on the album were written by conductors or arrangers who have worked at King's College over the years.
Most carols on the album were written centuries ago, although several are relatively young. For instance, "Candlelight Carol" was written in 1984 by Rutter. Others are a mix of old and new: "There is a Flower" was written by fifteenth century monk John Audely, with new music by Rutter.

Critical response

Rick Anderson of Allmusic calls the album "a surprisingly varied program of songs from British, Italian, American, German, and Basque sources". He says that the pieces penned by the composer, John Rutter, are "ripe and fulsome and gushing in that idiosyncratically British neo-romantic way". Compared to other Christmas albums released by the Cambridge Singers he says this album is "more or less interchangeable" but they all are "...pure, unadulterated, tear-in-the-eye Christmas Eve devotional spirit...".

Track listing

Track listing, with the original composer between brackets.
  1. "In Dulci Jubilo"
  2. "Adam Lay Ybounden"
  3. "Christmas Night"
  4. "Once, as I Remember"
  5. "A Spotless Rose"
  6. "In the Bleak Midwinter"
  7. "There is a Flower"
  8. "The Cherry Tree Carol"
  9. "I Wonder As I Wander"
  10. "Candlelight Carol"
  11. "O Tannenbaum"
  12. "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day"
  13. "A Virgin Most Pure"
  14. "I Sing of a Maiden"
  15. "Lute-Book Lullaby"
  16. "The Three Kings"
  17. "Myn Lyking"
  18. "O Little One Sweet"
  19. "All My Heart This Night Rejoices"
  20. "I Saw a Maiden"
  21. "Away In A Manger"
  22. "Nativity Carol"

    Personnel