CD · 1 disc
The Cincinnati May Festival Chorus, the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops, performs a capella traditional Christmas carols under the direction of Robert Porco. The May Festival Chorus has earned acclaim locally, nationally, and internationally for its musicality, vast range of repertoire and sheer power of sound. The Chorus of 145 professionally trained singers is the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival as well as the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Founded in 1873, the annual May Festival is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious, choral festivals in the Western Hemisphere. In this release, the Chorus performs sublime a capella arrangements of traditional Christmas hymns and carols.
This new release from The Choir of Chapel Royal features Christmas carols both old and new. These songs were recorded in St. James’s Palace, London, and the stunning acoustics can be heard in each track. Huw Williams currently serves as Director of Music at Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace. He also directs Cantemus Chamber Choir and Stroud Choral Society, and is on the faculty at Eton College.
SOMM celebrates Christmas this year with Carols from Chelsea, a delicious offering from the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea under their Director, William Vann. The Royal Hospital, founded in 1682 by Charles II, is the home of the iconic Chelsea Pensioners, who are all retired soldiers of the British Army. The Chapel Choir sings for the Sunday morning Matins service in the Royal Hospital's Wren Chapel during the year, but in December provides the music for carol services and other Christmas-themed events almost every day. This recording showcases some of the Choir's most cherished carol repertoire, alongside solo organ music performed by the Royal Hospital's Organ Scholar, James Orford, and a very special performance with Chelsea Pensioner and George Hatton. Many of the Royal Hospital's carol services begin wtih Franz Gruber's spine-tingling carol Stille Nacht, an especially moving carol to hear in the original German, given it's celebrated performance in the trenches on Christmas Day, 1914. Once in Royal David's City is the first of three carols that are usually sung with the full congregation, opening with the famous solo that captures the mood of Christmas like nothing else.
CD · 5 discs
SACD · 1 disc
For this second instalment in their Nielsen cycle, Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra are joined by the flautist Adam Walker for a programme that combines the Flute Concerto, the Third Symphony, and the tone poem Pan and Syrinx. Nielsen began work on the Third Symphony in 1910, some seven years after he had completed his second symphony ‘The Four Temperaments’, and the work was premièred in Copenhagen in 1912. In his album note, Paul Griffiths describes the work’s eventual title, ‘Sinfonia espansiva’ as a fifth temperament – Joviality. In the second movement, uniquely in his symphonic output, Nielsen calls for (wordless) voices – solo soprano and baritone. It was also the first of his symphonies to be commercially released on record – Erik Tuxen conducting the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Composed in 1926, the Flute Concerto is a late work, and demonstrates Nielsen’s stylistic evolution towards the new modernism. The soloist engages in repeated interactions with other instruments within the orchestra, most notably the clarinet and the bass trombone. Pan and Syrinx dates from 1918, and is based on the ancient legend which tells how the amorous god Pan invented the pan flute whilst pursuing the nymph Syrinx.
Following acclaimed performances around the globe, John Relyea’s interpretation of Duke Bluebeard now appears on record, with Michelle DeYoung as Judit and Edward Gardner leading his Bergen forces with aplomb. John Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest basses. Mr. Relyea has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where he is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinsky Theater.
SACD · 2 discs
Vinyl · 1 disc
CD · 2 discs
