FIVE YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Here are some lesserknown carols that deserve to be on any Christmas list:

Jesus Christ The Apple Tree

The magic of Elizabeth Poston's 1967 carol is its miraculous simplicity. The music fans outwards from a single treble line into four-part harmony — a musical seed swelling into full bloom, mirroring the imagery of this lovely 18th-century poem.

Bethlehem Down

It's hard to believe that such exquisite beauty could emerge from so pragmatic a scenario. Broke and needing funds for a festive booze-up, Peter Warlock and Bruce Blunt composed what they hoped would be a money-spinning carol while on a pub crawl. They achieved their aim.

Quelle est cette odeur agréable?

With a translation that shackles its ravishing melody to the words “Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing?” the French 17th-century tune was so popular in its day that John Gay pinched it for his hit The Beggar's Opera.

The Flight

Commissioned in 2015, Richard Causton's carol brings the Christmas story into the present with words by poet George Szirtes. Its verses batter, as the refrain breaks your heart.

Of the Father's Heart Begotten

With words dating from 350 AD and a plainchant melody from the 16th century, this glorious Advent hymn is almost as ancient as Christmas itself, “evermore and evermore” stirring the heart every time you hear it.