Our new disc proved very popular at its first Christmas, hovering around 30 in the Classic FM classical chart. We like it. We think you will too.

Vaughan Williams's works have a special resonance for Surrey music lovers as he lived at Leith Hill and the Surrey Hills were a source of inspiration for him. In Hodie, he creates two wonderful new carols as the Christmas story unfolds, while the Fantasia uses traditional carols. Both works stress the concept of peace among men - which never ceases to be a highly relevant, if elusive, aspiration.

Janice Watson (soprano), Peter Hoare (tenor), Stephen Gadd (baritone) Guildford Choral Society, St Catherine's School Middle Chamber Choir Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton Naxos 8.570439 order form [pdf - new window]

Here are extracts from selected reviews:

Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 30 November 2007

Hodie, Vaughan Williams's hour-long Christmas cantata completed in 1954, was one of his last large-scale works. It is a mixture of narration and celebration, using a children's choir and an organ to tell the Christmas story in six of the 16 movements; interspersed with those passages from the gospels are larger-scale orchestral and choral settings of other texts, including poems by Milton, Hardy, George Herbert and the composer's wife, Ursula. Assembled with great skill, it contains many of Vaughan Williams's vocal and choral fingerprints. The Fantasia on Christmas Carols [is] based upon traditional carols collected in Herefordshire, Somerset and Sussex.

The performances are first class, with solid orchestral support given to an excellent trio of soloists and robust choral singing.

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Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine, December 2007

The Fantasia on Christmas Carols is well-loved and frequently recorded, but Hodie ("This Day") is much less well-represented. This performance sounds less 'cathedrally' and more intimate, especially as the lessons are well sung by a girls' choir, creating a warmer sound. Davan Wetton's conducting is vibrant; these are engaging performances in spacious modern sound.

Matthew Rye, Daily Telegraph, 8 December 2007

These two Christmas works reflect quite different aspects of Vaughan Williams's musical style. The Fantasia on Christmas Carols of 1912 is very much the product of his obsession with folksongs, but Hodie, an hour-long sequence of narrative and lyrical movements from 1953 retelling the Christmas story, comes straight out of the glittering world of the late symphonies with its tuned percussion and stirring harmonies.

Hilary Davan Wetton conducts vivid performances of both works, and there is characterful singing from soloists and choruses, though the schoolgirls' choir perhaps lacks the crispness that Vaughan Williams's preferred boy choristers might have brought.

Brian Wilson, CD Review in Music Web International

First impressions were very positive: two idiomatic performances, lively where appropriate, lyrical and thoughtful too in the right places, all in a wide-ranging recording. The rousing performance of the Epilogue, "In the beginning was the Word", is particularly vividly recorded.

The Guildford choir make a pretty good fist of everything in Hodie. St Catherine's School Middle Chamber choristers also acquit themselves well.

Stephen Gadd's weightier baritone sounds more appropriate here [in Hodie] than in the Fantasia, especially in the wistful setting of Hardy's "The Oxen"; the other soloists are equally fine. Janice Watson blends well with the choir in the lullaby "Sweet was the song" rising above them just enough without drowning them. Peter Hoare's voice is also just right for "Bright portals" rising almost to the heights suggested by the opening fanfare but with just a hint of human fallibility.

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Paul Eggleton, Farnham and Haslemere Herald, 21 December 2007

The Guildford Choral Society, St Catherine's School Middle Chamber Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, do full justice to the ambitious score, and the soloists are very good. There are several excellent recordings of these works already, but given the quality of the music and the good performances by a local choir, this would make an ideal Christmas present for anyone who loves modern choral music.

David's review corner, Naxos website, November 2007

The choice of soloists is ideal, Peter Hoare splendid in his few moments, while Janice Watson has that purity of voice the work calls for. The adult and children's choirs are superb, while the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is vibrant in both works with punchy brass and timpani adding to the meaty moments. Hilary Davan Wetton is so much at home in this era, tempos seemingly having been self-selecting. Recorded in London's Cadogan Hall the sound quality is everything you could wish for. Superb.

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Jeffrey Davis, an Amazon customer review, 29 November 2007

This is a great CD. I had always thought that Hodie, despite great moments of inspiration was a rather inferior score to earlier choral scores, but Hilary Davan Wetton's new Naxos version has forced me to revise my earlier view.

The recording (made at Cadogan Hall, London) is much clearer than other versions, with the organ making a much more audible contribution. Janice Watson, Peter Hoare and Stephen Gadd are outstanding soloists and all credit to the Guildford Choral Society, the RPO and their conductor. In this performance, my attention was gripped throughout.

Hodie contains some great music (the setting of Hardy's "The Oxen" for example) and is a remarkably inspiriting and life-affirming celebration of Christmas from the octogenarian composer.

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