Choral Christmas: A treat from a British composer

At 9am GMT on each day of Advent, I’ll be posting a YouTube video of a piece which, in my opinion, celebrates the best of music made by the human voice. You can access the full Choral Christmas here.

Audioboo introduction

An unscripted rambling intro:

Orlando Gibbons: O clap your hands, performed by Voces8

O clap your hands is a perfect piece for the octet Voces8, being as it is a piece for eight individual voices. Based on the text of Psalm 47 the piece is an Ascension day anthem, and so strictly speaking has no place in a choral Christmas. I try to avoid speaking strictly wherever possible.

Its enduring appeal is remarkable. The music we hear is a message first committed to staves around four hundred years ago.

This joyous cacophony of voice is the perfect way to end our first week. Sheet music can be downloaded from CPDL.