Ora – Advent Calendar (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Héhé, voilà une idée qu’elle est bonne [Hehe, here’s a good idea], as the much-missed Michel Colucci would say. Instead of piling on pounds eating tasteless chocolates, opening a little cardboard window on an Advent calendar decorated with sickly-sweet drawings, why not open every day from the start of Advent with the a little choral piece? This good idea originates with the excellent British choir ORA, directed by Suzi Digby: twenty-four a capella pieces, almost all of which come from the recent British repertoire, and of which two have been made for (and by) the ensemble. ORA is one of those brilliant choirs from the English speaking world, with 24 high-quality voices, whose aim is to revive, after a fashion, the Renaissance passion for contemporary choral music by the likes of Byrd or Tallis… Hence their modern programmes – contemporary, note, but very much removed from the production-line atonal avant-garde output of the 1970s and 1980s. They work with a list of great British choral composers like Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Holst, Parry, Stanford Berkeley, Finzi, or, more recent still, stars like Rutter or Tavener whose language sometimes approaches jazz or Gospel.

Tracklist:
01. Emma Walshe, ORA, Suzi Digand JoBurgess – Suzi’s Carol (04:55)
02. ORA and Suzi Digby – Venite, Gaudete! (02:18)
03. Katy Hill, ORA and Suzi Digby – Gabriel’s Message (03:29)
04. ORA and Suzi Digby – In the Stillness (02:01)
05. ORA and Suzi Digby – Adam lay y-bounden (01:13)
06. Joshua Cooter, ORA and Suzi Digby – Lullay, my Liking (04:43)
07. ORA and Suzi Digby – Balulalow (02:07)
08. ORA and Suzi Digby – Coventry Carol (Arr. Richard Allain) (03:47)
09. ORA and Suzi Digby – O Magnum Mysterium (05:52)
10. Richard Bannan, ORA and Suzi Digby – Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (04:05)
11. ORA and Suzi Digby – My Lord has Come (03:29)
12. ORA and Suzi Digby – Quem pastores laudavere (04:37)
13. ORA and Suzi Digby – Gaudete! (02:11)
14. ORA and Suzi Digby – My Guardian Angel (02:30)
15. ORA and Suzi Digby – Shepherds’ Cradle Song (03:43)
16. ORA and Suzi Digby – The Shepherd’s Carol (03:05)
17. ORA and Suzi Digby – The Oxen (02:52)
18. ORA and Suzi Digby – Now May We Singen (03:21)
19. Lucy Cox, ORA and Suzi Digby – Lux Aurumque (03:20)
20. ORA and Suzi Digby – Bogoroditse Djevo (01:07)
21. ORA and Suzi Digby – Les anges dans nos campagnes (Arr. Tobias Frank) (04:06)
22. Emilia Morton, ORA and Suzi Digby – In the Bleak Midwinter (Arr. Ola Gjeilo) (04:43)
23. Emma Walshe, ORA and Suzi Digby – Mary’s Lullaby (Silent Night) (03:53)
24. ORA, Suzi Digand JoBurgess – The Christmas Tree (04:06)