Both a dedicated carol singer and an authority on the history of English music Nicholas Temperley here offers a unique book of 37 carols dating from the fifteenth century to the present.For over fifty years he has sung edited and composed carols each Christmas and in Christmas is Coming the fruit of his enthusiasm is combined with his wealth of knowledge to produce an outstanding and original new collection. As John Rutter observes in his Foreword the book does not pointlessly duplicate what can be found in many other carol books but has a personality and purpose of its own.Twenty-two fresh and practical arrangements include carols from Austria France Germany Mexico Poland and the USA alongside music both rare and familiar from the rich heritage of the English carol tradition. As well as eight of his personal favourites from J. S. Bach to Charles Ives the author includes seven new compositions of his own settings of medieval and traditional texts that reveal his skill as a choral composer whose command of style ranges from the humorous to the profound.In addition to sample programmes and translations there are invaluable notes on the performance and history of individual items plus an historical summary of the genre as a whole: everything in fact to make Christmas is Coming an indispensable companion for singers who wish to enrich the seasonal repertoire for concerts churches and traditional Yuletide carolling.

Par BREWER HERBERT A.. Organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1896 till his death in 1928, as well as composer, choir-trainer, adjudicator and teacher, Sir Herbert Brewer was involved for over three decades with the Three Choirs Festival, and his Memories of Choirs and Cloisters offers a vivid account of the planning and execution of the festivals in that time, those at Gloucester in particular. Though his professional life was spent exclusively in the provinces, his championing of contemporary music brought him into wide contact with composers and other artistic figures both from Britain and the continent, including Robert Bridges, Elgar, Glazunov, Rider Haggard, Parry, Quiller-Couch, Ravel, Saint-Saëns and Sibelius (whose Luonnotar he premiered). John Morehen's fine new edition places Brewer's lively and insightful recollections of these and other encounters and connections in context for the modern reader, making the book an important addition to our fuller understanding of a remarkable period in British music. Neither a conventional autobiography nor a diary, but a collection of reminiscences compiled towards the end of his life, Brewer's Memories reveals a scrupulous and astute musician of great integrity, warm-hearted with a devotion to social justice and civic duty, and with a mischievous sense of humour./ Recueil / Choeur