"Hugo Distler ... was organist in Buxtehude's church at Lübeck, a church which performed Schütz's St Matthew Passion every Good Friday. These influences on him were enormous, and it's from that tradition that his Weihnachtsgeschichte grows ... The other recurring theme is Praetorius' famous chorale Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, which appears seven times during the unfolding narrative, every time in a new harmonic language or arrangement. It gives musical unity to the unfolding structure, and Distler's arrangements of it are very effective ... The choir of Concert Clemens sing with rarefied beauty and narrative engagement throughout. The whole work is a capella, and the tuning never slips once. The evangelist of tenor Adam Riis is never less than completely engaging ... The church acoustic is beautifully atmospheric, too".