The Iseler Singers perform carols by Canadian composers commissioned for this recording - four original compositions, an arrangement of the Huron Carol and eleven new arrangements of carols from the 1582 collection, "Piae Cantiones" by the Swedish monk, Theodoricus Petrus of Nyland. Published in England in 1853, its timeless melodies have permeated the church music of the English-speaking world. According to Ken Winters' informative liner notes the only work on the program not commissioned by the Singers is Healey Willan's miniature masterpiece, Resonet in Laudibus, also from "Piae Cantiones". Each carol is a highly individual exploration of musical beauty. Exquisite dissonances propel Eleanor Daley's harmonization of Ave Maris Stella; Eric Robertson astonishes with his symphonic vision of Puer Natus in Bethlehem; Derek Holman's modal counterpoint to the syncopations of Gaudete bursts with energy; Donald Patriquin's folk song treatment of Puer Nobis Nascitur is fresh and unexpected; Peter Togni's arrangement of Corde Natus - Of the Father's love begotten moves with deft assurance from two-part simplicity to a grand multiphonic concluding Amen.

Songlist: Ave Maris Stella, Gaudete!, In the Bleak Mid-winter, A Christmas Lullaby, Angelus ad Virginem, In Dulci Jubilo, Jumalisten joucko, The Huron Carol, Christmas Lullaby, Puer Nobis Nascitur, Puer Natus in Bethlehem, Laetetur Jerusalem, Paranymphus Adiens, Corde Natus, Of the Father's Love Begotten, Waye Not His Cribb, Verbum Caro Factum Est, Resonet in Laudibus, Christmas Song 14th Century, Un Instant Mystique (A Boy is Born)