Auld Lang Syne – The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin

For decades, on these islands, the passage from the old to the new year at midnight has been celebrated by singing Robert Burns’ poem. This was first printed in 1788 although the author himself acknowledged that its origins lie in an earlier Scots-language ballad printed in 1711 by James Wilson. In this graceful arrangement, we hear the standard English version of the text set to a traditional Scottish melody. Sopranos and altos predominate in the four verses, sometimes in unison and, at times, underpinned by a Scottish- sounding drone. In contrast, the chorus is richly sung by the full complement of voices.