Gabriel Jackson: The Christmas Story The Choir of Merton College, Oxford, Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia & The Girl Choir & Benjamin Nicholas

• Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962): The Christmas Story, Advent:
• 1 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Advent: I. Conditor alme siderum 02:13
• 2 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Advent: II. I look from afar 06:55
• 3 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Advent: III. Expecting 04:48
• 4 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Advent: IV. Sit Christe rex 02:25
• The Christmas Story, Christmas:
• 5 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Christmas: I. Veni redemptor gentium 02:15
• 6 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Christmas: II. And it came to pass in those days 02:08
• 7 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Christmas: III. Lullaby of the Beasts 03:29
• 8 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Christmas: IV. And there were in the same country 03:44
• 9 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Christmas: V. O magnum mysterium 04:56
• 10 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Christmas: VI. Toccata 01:16
• The Christmas Story, Epiphany:
• 11 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: I. Tribus miraculis ornatum 03:02
• 12 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: II. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem 03:36
• 13 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: III. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern 00:35
• 14 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: IV. And the third day there was a marriage 02:48
• 15 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: V. A Guest at Cana 04:16
• 16 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: VI. And it came to pass in those days 01:34
• 17 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Epiphany: VII. Benedicite omnia opera 02:27
• The Christmas Story, Candlemas:
• 18 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: I. Lumen ad revelationem gentium 01:39
• 19 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: II. When the days of Mary’s purification 03:24
• 20 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: III. Nunc dimittis servum tuum 01:59
• 21 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: IV. Joseph and his mother 01:32
• 22 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: V. Lumen ad revelationem gentium 00:51
• 23 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: VI. And there was one Anna 01:06
• 24 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: VII. Anna’s Song 03:48
• 25 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: VIII. And when they had performed all things 01:08
• 26 Jackson: The Christmas Story, Candlemas: IX. O nata lux de lumine 05:35
• Total Runtime 01:13:29

Info for Gabriel Jackson: The Christmas Story

Long associated with the music of Gabriel Jackson, in 2020 the Choir of Merton College, Oxford and their director Benjamin Nicholas won a BBC Music Magazine Award for their recording of The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, a work which grounded its narrative of Christ’s suffering and humanity’s redemption in texts associated with the history of the College.

The Christmas Story, again with a libretto assembled by the College’s chaplain the Revd Dr Simon Jones, takes the same approach to tell the story of Christ’s birth. Spanning the period from Advent to Candlemas, it mixes biblical narrative with liturgical texts and four specially commissioned poems by members of the College.

The new poems are given to the College’s girl choristers (an independent part of its choral foundation since 2016), while the main body of the work is carried by the full choir and by an ensemble of flute, percussion, strings, saxophone and three trombones – the latter recalling the hieratic sonorities of the seventeenth-century works by Schütz and others which Jackson had in mind while composing The Christmas Story.

Choir of Merton College Oxford
Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia
Benjamin Nicholas, conductor

Benjamin Nicholas
is a former pupil of David Sanger for organ and Denise Ham for conducting. He held the organ scholarships at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul’s Cathedral before moving to Tewkesbury Abbey where he directed the Schola Cantorum. He has directed the Choir at Merton College since 2008, and in 2012 became the first full-time Organist and Director of Music at Merton.

During Benjamin’s time at Merton, the College has established the annual Passiontide at Merton festival, and in 2013 the new Dobson Organ was installed, a project with which he was closely involved. With Merton College Choir, Benjamin has toured in France, Sweden and the USA, given concerts in the Cadogan Hall and The Temple Church, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television.

As a conductor, recent performances have included Holst’s Savitri in the Cheltenham Music Festival, Mozart’s Requiem in St Germain, Paris and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Oxford Philomusica. Benjamin’s recordings are mainly on the Delphian label, and include discs of Weelkes, Mozart (Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers), Stainer, Stanford, and Rutter. His debut disc with Merton College Choir was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

Benjamin Nicholas has collaborated with numerous composers, and is largely responsible for the Merton Choirbook, commissioned to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the College in 2014. Significant projects have included the first performances of Gabriel Jackson’s Passion in Oxford and New York, and the premieres of new choral works by Birtwistle, Dove, MacMillan, Saxton and Weir.

The Choir of Merton College
consists of 30 undergraduate and graduate students at Oxford University reading for degrees in a variety of subjects. The choir's primary duty is singing at regular services in the famous 13th-century Chapel.

Since the establishment of Merton’s Choral Foundation in 2008, the choir has gained an international reputation for offering the best of choral music through tours, recordings and broadcasts. In 2020, the choir won the award for best choral album at the BBC Music Magazine Awards for its recording of Gabriel Jackson’s The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The choir’s discography on the Delphian Label has seen numerous five star reviews and many recordings have been named ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone magazine.

The choir has appeared at The Three Choirs Festival and the Cheltenham Music Festival, and recent London appearances include the concert series at St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall and The Temple Church. The choir is regularly heard in concert with orchestra, and recent collaborations have seen the choir perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Elgar’s The Apostles), Instruments of Time and Truth (Bach’s St Matthew Passion) and Oxford Baroque (Bach’s Mass in B minor). The choir’s annual festival, Passiontide at Merton, has an established place in Oxford’s musical calendar, and has led to exciting collaborations with such groups as The Cardinall’s Musick and The Marian Consort.

Merton College Choir regularly tours overseas, and has recently visited the USA, Hong Kong and Singapore, France, Italy and Sweden. In 2017, the choir sang the first Anglican Service in St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

The choir’s commitment to contemporary music has seen numerous composers write for the choir. In recent years the choir has premiered works by Kerry Andrew, Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Ešenvalds, Kendall, MacMillan, McDowall, Rutter, Tabakova and Weir. In July 2021, the choir gave the world premiere of a new work by Daniel Kidane.

Booklet for Gabriel Jackson: The Christmas Story