专辑简介

Lady Barbara Sidmouth, b. Rochford, (1915 - 1989) was a poet and had a selection of poems published as "The Whimbrel Selected Poems and Prose.” Her Catholic faith was very important to her and undoubtedly a driving force behind her work. She wrote the libretto to "The Birth of Jesus" and sent it to Timothy Baxter asking him to write the music. It appealed to him, as he saw its possibilities. There were three very successful performances in The Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1978, 1981 and 1982, performed for charity purposes. They were all different productions with a variety of soloists, choirs and different players in the orchestra, mostly students from The Royal Academy of Music. The productions also included actors, dancers and choreographers from various theatre groups. All three performances as well as the recording were conducted by the composer Timothy Baxter. This release was expertly dubbed and remastered from a 1978 LP of a live concert.