James Jordan writes: “I think when life challenges us, our common human tendency is to look toward the stars for wisdom and answers, for the abundances and peace that sometimes one’s focus toward the heavens brings to us. Looking toward the stars and the heavens often clears our vision so we can feel authentically with our hearts. Carols during Advent and Christmastime seem to also embody that spirit of mystical searching for hope and wonder. And perhaps there is no better musical spiritual entry point for all of this than chant. So, this recording leads you musically through the journey, from simple chant to stories in the carols. And all of the music on the album reflects our hope for the future as we climb a crooked ladder leading to, hopefully, a brighter new time for our beloved Westminster college, and our lives beyond the pandemic. Our desire is to see a glimmer of light behind what seems a very closed door. This album offers music for personal reflection, with the hope that these sounds can provide for each of us “scattered” new light.”

In the latter half of the 18th century, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was active at the Count of Schaumberg-Lippe’s Court in Buckeburg. Near the end of 1772 German poet and theologian Johann Gottfried Herder wrote the poem Die Kindheit Jesu, and entrusted the text to Bach to set to music. The magnificent fruit of that collaboration was performed for the first time on February 11, 1773 at the Buckeburg court. This oratorio for solo voices, four-part chorus and orchestra is performed under the baton of Hermann Max. The accompanying booklet contains notes, complete libretto and translations.

Sing Noel with Gloriæ Dei Cantores is a Christmas treat from beginning to end! The album opens with Sing Noel - a colorful set of carols moving seamlessly from one to another. From Caroling, Caroling to My Dancing Day and The Holly and the Ivy - this recording brings the listener a traditional Christmas experience that will brighten Christmas cheer and warm hearts.

"Exudes professionalism and emotion from every pore."
—Carol Swanson, Christmasreviews.com
". . . And so I listened – The First Noel came and went as did I Wonder as I Wander. . .lush, rich and – well, was it my imagination or did I see the ghost of Jimmy Stewart, eyes twinkling. . . "
—Jonathan Woolf, Musicweb.uk
"The choral artistry for which Gloriae Dei Cantores has become known can be heard in each selection. The ageless and profound wonder of Christmas comes alive with the singing of each word and the playing of each note."
—Wallace Cheatham, Christianity and the Arts

Fritz Wunderlich's early recording of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, from a performance in the Stuttgart Markuskirche in 1955, presents the singer of the century at the beginning of his career. The other performances in this collection took place between 1955 and 1959 - they are studio recordings, all of them rarities from Wunderlich's repertoire, which exist only in this early series of Stuttgart radio productions.

Includes suite of medieval carols by various composers. Ensemble: Solid Brass. Soloists: David Sampson, Barry Browner, Charles Olsen, Elizabeth DiSavino, Hans Muller (Trombone), Hugh Eddy, Carl Della Peruti, Jeffrey Caswell, Kyle Turner, Adrienne Wilcox, Douglas Haislip.

Ragnar Bohlin founded Cappella SF, a professional chamber choir, in 2014. Since then, this select Bay Area ensemble has presented four acclaimed concerts and recorded music for two CDs – including this, their first commercial disc. Spanning more than a millennium, this holiday program has something for everyone: traditional seasonal standards, original compositions and arrangements from English and American composers, as well as leading choral masters from Bohlin’s native Sweden, including a piece composed for Cappella SF by Fredrik Sixten that’s heard here in its world premiere recording.

Also available on Blu-ray

Rossini wrote L’equivoco stravagante (‘The Curious Misunderstanding’), his first full-length opera, when he was only 19 years old. As its title suggests, the plot of this dramma giocoso offers a panoply of absurdist stagecraft with one character being led to believe that the work’s heroine is in fact a castrato trying to avoid military service. Full of his trademark buffo humour, melodious and musically buoyant, the opera ran foul of the censors and was swiftly banned, which accounts for its rarity in performances and recordings. The new edition of the score used in this production corrects numerous previous errors.