The famous San Francisco group (12 singers‚ all male‚ covering just about four octaves from top to bottom) join forces with the possibly still more celebrated soprano from Nashville and Park Forest to provide Christmas music from far and near‚ the nearest bit being your reviewer’s home town of Coventry. The city’s ancient carol is heard as a strikingly imaginative arrangement by Jonathan Rathbone‚ formerly of the Swingle Singers‚ with whom Chanticleer have something in common in style and repertoire. The character of their sound‚ however‚ is all its own. There is both homogeneity and individuality. The sopranos can descant in head­tones or give you a high B in full voice; the basses plumb the depths‚ sometimes with a tone that fools you into thinking a low mains­hum is travelling from the speakers along the floorboards. It’s a versatile Chanticleer‚ too‚ that can coo like a happy dovecot or strut like its namesake (‘Jerusalem in the morning’‚ part of the Mary and the Baby medley‚ is a real out­of­bed­sleepyhead arouser). And it is not a ‘stunt’ choir. They can do the special effects when called on (as in Noël nouvelet)‚ but for the most part this is a genuine‚ finely disciplined exercise in musical delight. Dawn Upshaw’s contributions include a verse for Mary in an inventive treatment of the old German carol Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen by Hugo Distler (1908­42): it comes from his Weinachtsgeschichte‚ perhaps a work worth investigating (recordings on Berlin Classics and Thorofon). She also sings with a broad smile a lilting Spanish carol‚ the kind of thing in which old­timers may ‘hear’ the tones of Lucrezia Bori. Recorded sound is clear‚ with plenty of presence. The accompanying booklet is informative and attractively produced.