O Holy Night: A Merton Christmas

Merton College Choir have made some terrific recordings, and this festive one is no exception. Joined by the Oxford Philharmonic, they give us an imaginatively assembled program of Christmas music old and new, with enough favorites to engender the warm, familiar feeling that comes around just once a year. The presence of compositions by John Rutter and arrangements from David Willcocks guarantees lashings of sparkling yuletide spirit, but there’s also a 2011 carol by Thomas Hewitt Jones (“What Child Is This?”) and a modern classic in Morten Lauridsen’s “O magnum mysterium.” Pure-voiced singing, wonderfully recorded.