Cappella Nova - Nou lat us sing
- A Scottish Christmas

1. Nou Lat Us Sing anon Scots 16thc ed Kenneth Elliot - 1.07
2. Ecce Novum Gaudium anon Scots 17thc ed Kenneth Elliot - 1.45
3. Jewry Came to Jebus-salem anon Scots 17thc ed Kenneth Elliot - 3.10
4. Taladh Chriosta Gaelic trad arr John Hearne - 4.04
5. Ikon of the Nativity John Tavener- 6.26
6. Qui Creavit Coelum Edward Harper- 2.33
7. I Sing of a Maiden Herbert Sumsion - 2.02
8. Of These 4 Letters trad arr John McIntosh (after Charles Wood)- 3.01
9. Child in The Manger Gaelic trad arr David McGuiness - 3.33
10. The Innumerable Christ William Sweeney - 3.19
11. There is No Rose Thomas Wilson - 4.27
12. Newington trad arr William Jones (fauxburdon by Harvey Grace) - 1.27
13. Omnes Gentes, Attendite anon Scots 16thc ed James Ross - 3.31
14. One Star, At Last Peter Maxwell Davis - 3.10
15. Shine Out, Fair Sun Rebecca Rowe - 4.43
16. Gaude Maria Virgo Robert Johnson ed Kenneth Elliot - 3.17
17. Hac in Anni Janua anon Scots 13thc ed Kenneth Elliot - 3.25
18. Auld Lang Syne trad arr John McIntosh - 3.33
19. A.L.S. trad arr David McGuiness - 5.05

Cappella Nova's annual concerts of Carols by Candlelight are a popular fixture in the Scottish concert calendar. From the first, the performances have been characterised by a rich vein of Scottish material, old and new, and music specially composed for the ensemble. This recording is designed to evoke that unique strand in a range of Medieval and Renaissance motets to traditional and contemporary works celebrating Christmas and New Year. the texts are not only in the three tongues of Scotland - Scots, Gaelic and English - but also Latin, the unifying language of Western Christianity. The majority of the pieces are by Scottish composers, and all the rest have Scottish connections or were premiered in Scotland. For most, this is their premiere recording.

One of the richest sources of post-Reformation Scottish religious songs in the vernacular is the Gude and Godly Ballatis of 1578. Our title track, Nou lat us sing, comes from this collection, but the music is probably better known in its distinctly less respectable identity, accompanying the text of a drinking song to welcome King James VI/I back to Edinburgh. Ecce novum gaudium and Jewry came to Jebus-salem date from the 17th-century. The former's Latin text is an up-beat run-through of all the new joys that Christmas Brings, whilst the latter, from Forbes's Songs and Fancies of 1662, tells the story of Christ's birth in wonderfully vivid poetry. All three works have an energetic, dance-like quality.

We include two lullabies with their origins in the Gaelic tradition Taladh Chriosta (The Christ-child's Lullaby) traditionally sung to the tune Bunessan which was popularised in the 1960s by association with the hymn Morning Has Broken. The text of this is an uncomplicated cradle-song, set to music by John Hearne with a bitter-sweet simplicity, hinting at the destiny of the holy child. The latter (the first of two arrangements commissioned specially for this disc from David McGuinness) is more complex, dwelling on the mystery of the Incarnation. In Gaelic and English with the addition of a distant choir singing in Latin, this treatment is tinted with the contrasting colours of earthly fragility and heavenly glory.

Several recently composed pieces also dwell with wonder on the seemingly impossible concept of the 'word made flesh'. Christ putting off his heavenly glory to be a vulnerable child is the theme of Edward Harper's Qui creavit coelum, scored for three high voices. A setting of Medieval words, it combines awe and Joy in equal measure with a light and playful musical texture. One Star, at Last by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies sets a poem of few words but many layers of meaning by Orcadian writer George Mackay Brown. Humankind's eternal search for peace is the main thread, intertwined with the pilgrimage of the wise men and references to the Flood and Noah's Ark - a Celtic knot of words which finally reveals the haunting image of starlight on a withered olive branch.

William Sweeney's setting of words by Hugh Macdiarmid was born out of the composer's deep engagement on the mammoth task of setting the whole of A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle for the poet's centenary. The Innumerable Christ reveals Macdiarmid's fleeting interest in the theory of parallel universes - a discomforting concept in which our our own planet Earth might be a star twinkling over some other Bethlehem. The music is at once lyrical and mysterious, hinting at the eternal, unknowable vastnessess of space. Heavenly bodies also appear in Rebecca Rowe's sparse and colourful setting of an anonymous 17th-century English poem, Shine out, fair Sun, with words of an almost surreal quality, painting a vivid picture of a frozen world, awaiting dawn and rebirth with the coming of Christ, the Sun.

The earliest piece on the disc is from the thirteenth-century St Andrews Music Book. The three-part Hac in anni Janua is a motet for the Feast of The Epiphany, describing the need to amend one's life and make laudable resolutions as one contemplates the turn of the year. It may well have been written by a French composer of the Notre Dame school, but the sole source is Scottish. Another anonymous work with a uniquely Scottish source is a motet in praise of the Virgin Mary, Omnes gentes, attendite. From the sixteenth century Thomas Wode part-books, this motet has been tentatively attributed to the English composer Christopher Tye. but is very likely Scottish. The words describe Mary as the mirror of loveliness and example to humankind. Whilst on that subject, we also include Gaude Maria Virgo by Robert Johnson (c1500-1560) which celebrates Mary's humble compliance with God's plans as revealed to her by the Archangel Gabriel.

Mary's character and pivotal role in the Christmas story Is the theme for a number of other pieces. Thomas Wilson sets the Medieval English poem There is no Rose with a tenderness matching the affection and respect of the words, whilst Of these Four Letters is a re-working by John McIntosh of Charles Wood's setting to the tune of Johnny Fa' or The Gypsy Laddie. I sing of a Maiden was one of the first pieces composed specially for Carols By Candlelight. Herpert Sumsion was commissioned by Cappella Nova to write a setting of Herrick's Carol Whilst at work on our commission, the composer was visited by an overwhelming impulse to set this celebrated Medieval Marian poem. As Sumsion himself predicted, it proved to be the more moving and deeply felt of the two pieces, taking an honoured place in our repertoire.

John Tavener's Ikon of tlie Nativity, a setting of words by the Greek Orthodox Saint Ephraim, was given to Cappella Nova in exchange for an actual Icon - the Ikon of the Resurrection painted by Kiril Sokolov for the premiere of Tavener's Resurrection in 1990, the huge work commissioned for the group by the City of Glasgow as part of its European Capital of Culture celebrations. Ikon of the Nativity is concerned with Mary's unique role as both mother, woman and saint, in line with the Eastern Orthodox view of her as the 'Mother of God' which, nevertheless, never loses sight of her fundamental humanity. John Tavener utilises characteristic, mesmerising chants and drones for the opening and closing sections - a deceptively simple foil to the ecstatic centre of the work which expands into eleven parts as Tavener seeks to express the transcendent glory of Christ contracted into human form. The premiere was given in Carols by Candlelight 1991,

Finally, no celebration of a Scottish festive season would be complete without Auld Lang Syne. Commissioned for our USA debut tour in 1997 and premiered in Houston, Texas, John Mclntosh's radiant, affirmative setting of the traditional tune shines with the optimism of the first seconds past midnight. Perhaps the more pensive original melody, as set by David McGuinness especially for this recording, might reflect 'the morning after the night before'...