The Very Best Time of Year - John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers, City of London Sinfonia

'The Very Best Time of Year'
From ‘The John Rutter Christmas Album’
The definitive collection of John Rutter carols and arrangements

Composer John Rutter
Conductor John Rutter
Choir The Cambridge Singers
Orchestra City of London Sinfonia

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The Very Best Time of Year
This was written in 1984 as a Christmas present for Gene and Audrey Grier, two noted American choral musicians who were among the first to welcome the composer into the American choral community on his early visits there in the 1970s and 80s.

LYRICS:
Christmas trees and boughs of holly,
Yuletide logs and mistletoe;
Candles burning bright, and meadows frosty white,
And faces in the firelight’s glow;
Sounds of happy children’s voices
Singing carols that you love to hear;
Then the silence of the night
And the winter air so still and clear.

Feels like you could reach and touch the sky,
Or catch a star and fly away;
Feels like you could wish for peace on earth,
And all at once it would come, some day.

Families and friends together
Feel a special kind of love and cheer,
Sharing all the joys of Christmas time,
The very best time of year.
The very best time,
That strange, enchanted time,
That shining, magic time of year.

(Words and music: John Rutter)

The John Rutter Christmas Album
This album gathers together most of the carols composed by John Rutter over the years, plus a sprinkling of Rutter arrangements of traditional carols, grouped to form a programme which narrates, reflects upon, and celebrates the Christmas story.

John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1983) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.

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[MsGrandunion]

Beautiful recording of a little known song. Rutter at his finest, bravo sir!

[katherinedavis]

Our church choir, directed by Dan Redfeld, is performing this on the Sunday after Christmas this year. He (and I) are major devotees of all things Rutter.

[DEAswingSISTERS]

beautiful music! soothing, peaceful and ispiring! thanks!

[nakamichizx]

@Harriet singing this brought me here ❤