This brand new Christmas album from The King’s Singers features 25 tracks covering everything from contemporary choral gems and folk songs through to well-loved carols. Dotted throughout the album are several of the most famous English church carols, which take The King’s Singers right back to their earliest singing days, and which also reflect the group’s heritage at King’s College, Cambridge. In Christmas Carols with The King’s Singers, the group bottle that frosty, moonlit, fireside Christmas wonder and pour it into their sound.
The King’s Singers have represented the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world’s greatest stages for over fifty years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, versatility and skill in performance, and for their consummate musicianship, drawing both on the group’s rich heritage and its pioneering spirit to create an extraordinary wealth of original works and unique collaborations.
REVIEWS:
If you love a capella men’s ensembles in Christmas music the King’s Singers are for you. This new album has some of the most beautiful ensemble singing I’ve heard in a long time. The arrangements are all tasteful and the singing, both in solos and ensemble, exquisite. These are not the same singers that recorded some truly ugly arrangements in some truly ugly albums several decades ago. Back them there seemed to be an attempt by their producers to make the King Singers more “withit” by recording them in arrangements that someone deemed funny or original. Since then someone brought the group back to what they do best. There are a number of familiar carols here (`Ding! Dong! Merrily on High!’, `Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day’, etc.), but also some newer carols that are really lovely (`The quiet heart’, `The little road to Bethlehem’, `O, do not move’). What a suitable disc for a wintry evening by the fire! Notes, texts, and translations.
Christophers elegantly mixes traditional carols, 20th century British standards, and contemporary works, and at every turn, there is something new.
The Sixteen contrasts traditional with contemporary in this choral feast of festive music. Bob Chilcott's sumptuous Advent Antiphons based on plainsong melodies anticipate the coming of Christmas and feature alongside Mykola Leontovich's much-loved Carol of the Bells, Richard Rodney Bennett’s stunning Susanni and Eric Whitacre’s shimmering Lux aurumque. Interspersed with the beautiful simplicity of traditional carols, this is a Christmas collection to savor.
Harry Christophers stands among today’s great champions of choral music. In partnership with The Sixteen, the ensemble he founded almost 40 years ago, he has set benchmark standards for the performance of everything from late medieval polyphony to important new works by contemporary composers. His international influence is supported by more than 150 recordings and has been enhanced by his work as Artistic Director of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society and as guest conductor worldwide. The Sixteen’s soundworld, rich in tonal variety and expressive nuance, reflects Christophers’ determination to create a vibrant choral instrument from the blend of adult professional singers. Under his leadership The Sixteen has established its annual Choral Pilgrimage to cathedrals, churches and other UK venues, created the Sacred Music series for BBC television, and developed an acclaimed period-instrument orchestra. Highlights of their recent work include an Artist Residency at Wigmore Hall, a large-scale tour of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, and the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Symphony No. 5, ‘Le grand Inconnu’; their future projects, meanwhile, comprise a new series devoted to Purcell and an ongoing survey of Handel’s dramatic oratorios.
REVIEW:
The title Carol of the Bells might suggest a greatest Christmas hits collection, and that Ukrainian standard is indeed present, but most of the material is a good deal less familiar. Christophers elegantly mixes traditional carols, 20th century British standards, and contemporary works, and at every turn, there is something new. Some of the traditional carols come from an old Oxford publication; Christophers notes that several, such as All in the Morning, have fallen out of use, and his case for their revival is persuasive. The Sixteen's reading of Eric Whitacre's much-recorded Lux aurumque is top-tier, and from the opening Pilgrim Jesus of Bob Chilcott, the program just flows unusually naturally. This is a holiday album that adds new subjects to the conversation even as it upholds some long traditions.
The Dover Quartet, “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker) unveils the second installment in its critically acclaimed Beethoven quartet cycle on Cedille Records. The Dover’s three-album set of Beethoven’s “Middle Quartets” includes the three Op. 59 “Razumovsky” Quartets, infused with Russian folk tunes; the graceful “Harp,” Op. 74, named for its plucked string figures; and the intense Op. 95 “Serioso,” a forward-looking experiment that Beethoven originally intended “for a small circle of connoisseurs.” The Dover Quartet’s first Beethoven release, a traversal of the Op. 18 quartets, has garnered international praise. England’s The Strad said the ensemble exhibits “a beguiling freshness and spontaneity that creates the impression of these relatively early masterworks arriving hot off the press.” Toronto’s The Whole Note cited “performances of conviction and depth. This promises to be an outstanding set.” Utah-based CD Hotlist remarked, “The Dovers stand out from the pack by playing with utterly perfect intonation, a near-telepathic sense of ensemble, and a lovely balance of passion and clarity.” New York’s WQXR proclaimed, “It’s hard to imagine a group better suited to recording these works than the Dover Quartet.” In concert, the quartet has presented three complete Beethoven cycles, including the University at Buffalo’s famous “Slee Cycle” — which has offered annual Beethoven quartet cycles since 1955 and has featured the likes of the Budapest, Guarneri, and Cleveland Quartets. The Dover Quartet serves as the inaugural Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and holds residencies with the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, among other prestigious posts.
"The harp and Christmas: this is a perfect fit, as the warm and elegant sound of the harp creates a very special atmosphere. I carefully selected various well-known Christmas tunes which are transcribed for solo harp, but I find it important to add lesser-known melodies as well – many of them reflecting different Christmas traditions." -Xavier de Maistre
"All the works that are included in Christmas Harp bear the hallmarks of harpists and composers who have been intimately familiar with their instrument. It was Xavier de Maistre himself who undertook the arrangement of the "Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy" from the Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-93). The arrangement of "The Waltz of the Flowers" was prepared by the young Russian harpist and composer Alexander Boldachev, as was the transcription of "Carol of the Bells." The Welsh harpist and composer John Thomas (1826–1913) left a substantial body of work, including a transcription of the Ave Maria by Franz Schubert (1797–1828). The French harp virtuoso Alphonse Hasselmans (1845–1912) [wrote] the Conte de Noël that de Maistre is performing here. One of Hasselmans’s pupils was Carlos Salzedo (1885–1961), who studied with Hasselmans for a year before being accepted into his harp class at the Conservatoire at the age of only thirteen. His works feature in the lion’s share of the pieces that are included in this album. Particularly delightful are his concert variations on the opening carol O Tannenbaum, where he may be said to pull out all the stops in his desire to show how much music lies hidden in this number’s apparently simple twelve bars." -Thomas Otto
“Sosa and Keita deliver a work that variously ebbs, flows and sparkles.” (Jane Cornwell, Jazzwise)
SUBA is the second album from the collaboration between one of Cuba’s most prolific Jazz Artists, pianist Omar Sosa, and Senegalese kora master Seckou Keita. Omar and Seckou’s debut album Transparent Water has toured worldwide since 2017 to enormous critical acclaim. They are again accompanied on this tour and album by Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles. Seven-time Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Omar Sosa has been passionately interested in exploring African musical cultures and their connections with his Afro-Cuban roots throughout his career, subtly blending traditional and contemporary sounds on many of his recordings. Seckou Keita has arguably become the most influential and inspiring Kora player of his generation, an exceptional and charismatic musician and a modern global citizen, with seven centuries of tradition and heritage expressed through his music.
Watch Sosa and Keita's Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music!
REVIEWS:
With a lighter, lyrical, improvisational approach, the two musicians create something artistically special and pull it off with aplomb. With its sympathetic sensitivity to human condition, SUBA’s mesmerizing music is a hymn to courage, strength and perseverance in a post-pandemic world. Each relaxing track, whether emphasizing piano, kora or vocals, presents itself a prayer for health, unity and sunnier skies ahead.
Mariss Jansons was one of the most important conductors of our time, celebrated worldwide and held in the highest regard – all the more so since his unexpected death on December 1, 2019. "Mariss Jansons - The Edition," comprising 70 recordings and a box set in representative LP format, documents the final phase of his life and career: his work as chief conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Bavarian Radio Chorus between 2003 and 2019. Predominantly live recordings from Munich, Tokyo, Vienna, New York, Waldsassen, and the Vatican enable listeners to experience for themselves musical highlights that are as moving as they are exciting. The set contains a remarkably diverse repertoire, ranging from symphonic music and great choral works to opera, and from the First Viennese School to 20th century classical music. "Mariss Jansons - The Edition" contains works by a broad range of composers, including complete cycles of the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler respectively. It is supplemented by fascinating rehearsal recordings that bear witness to Jansons's trusting artistic collaboration with the musicians in his orchestra, together with a large-format, approximately 72-page-long booklet containing background information, essays, an interview, and a detailed track listing.
Ensemble Caprice and Ensemble Vocal-Arts Québec, under the direction of Matthias Maute, present George Frideric Handel’s Messiah featuring Karina Gauvin. Although it is certainly not the first recording of The Messiah, it serves as an opening act to new beginnings; a breath of fresh air after the isolation and empty concert halls caused by the pandemic. These Messiah excerpts feature Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin, known especially for her interpretation of Baroque music, and the recipient of the prestigious award of “Soloist of the year” award by the Communauté internationale des radios publique de langue français. The recording also features the flute part from Mozart’s arrangement of The Messiah, honoring the two giants, Handel and Mozart, of the classical compositional world. Opening the album is composer Jaap Nico Hamburger’s Hope and Belief, which served as the title track for Ensemble Caprice and Ensemble Vocal-Arts Québec Mini Concerts Sante, and closes with Matthias Maute’s piece “O magnum mysterium,” which “attempts to grasp something of the elusive mystery of music.”
The Newberry Consort and EnsAmble Ad-Hoc present A MEXICAN CHRISTMAS, an album of 17th century traditional music for worship and celebration. The collection features pieces commonly heard in both liturgical service and in the streets, and evoke the solemnity and fanfare heard in Mexico City’s convents and plazas, with jubilant vocals and lively strings, guitars, and percussion. Organ, harp, bassoon, and a variety of Mexican traditional instruments bring this exuberant and diverse music to life.
Wim Statius Muller, who came to be known as “the Chopin of Curaçao,” spent just over 30 years in various security and counter-espionage organizations! Although for the most part Wim Statius Muller’s music is based on folk dance rhythms, it is nevertheless garbed in the fine attire of concert music, with the waltzes and other dance tunes. The extraordinary musician Louise Bessette offers on this new album all 22 pieces from the Antillean Dances collection and gives these dances the “royal treatment,” offering precise and exceptionally clear performances.
We now once again can continue our comprehensive and successful Röntgen Edition with a new production containing two albums dedicated to his last symphonies. These works once again demonstrating that Röntgen was the most highly imaginative composer in Holland during the second half of the nineteenth century. Julius Röntgen composed his Symphony no. 12 in C major (“In Babylone”) in 1930, along with eight further symphonies. Seven of these works are laid out in a single movement and last from ten to 15 minutes. The actual main theme of Symphony no. 12 is only heard at the end in the plein jeu of the organ. At the beginning of 1930 Julius Röntgen was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Edin‑burgh. The degree was proposed by Professor Donald Francis Tovey, with whom he had already developed a friendship by 1910. Tovey considered Röntgen the last link in a chain proceeding from Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms, a man capable of telling and teaching us of these 19th‑century titans. Röntgen was so surprised and delighted at the prospect of this tribute that he immediately set out to compose his Seventh Symphony in F minor, the “Edinburgh” Symphony. Following the model of Joseph Haydn and his “Oxford” Symphony, he intended to present it to the university’s senate at the awards ceremony. Röntgen celebrated the Christmas season and New Year’s Day with the newly married couple in Winterthur, where his newest – and last – symphony originated in 1930. Symphony no. 14 in D major (“Winterthur”) makes do with a small amount of material. The horns enter on natural harmonics in D major, seemingly emerging directly from the Alpine scenery.
Buzz Brass inspired dreams with this new opus, Christmas. The quintet takes the listener out of the familiar with this majestic, elegant and refined arrangements to highlight the holiday season. The male vocal quartet Quartom joins as guest artists in ‘Noël canadien’ and ‘The 12 days of Christmas.’ The ensemble's latest volume, Inspirations, has been hailed as proof of their "testament to the ensemble’s sensational embouchure" by the prestigious Gramophone magazine. Since 2002, Buzz Brass quintet has been travelling all over the globe to captivate classical music lovers. Whether its concerts consist of brass quintet alone or together with guest musicians, the original artistic propositions it presents leave nobody cold. With over 1,600 appearances to its credit, the ensemble has reached more than 350,000 music lovers throughout North America, Europe and China. The numerous awards and distinctions that Buzz Brass has earned over the years (Opus, ADISQ, and Trille Or) attest to both the quality and the relevance of its musical performances.
Their fourth Christmas release, BBC Music Magazine Award winning choir Tenebrae return under the expert direction Nigel Short with a sumptuous album of Carols, Hymns and other celebratory works for Christmas.
Tenebrae is regularly engaged with the world’s finest orchestras – appearing regularly with the Academy of Ancient Music and Aurora Orchestra – and has performed at major festivals and venues including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Leipzig Gewandhaus (Germany) and Melbourne Festival (Australia). ‘Passion and Precision’ are Tenebrae’s core values. Through its continued dedication to performance of the highest quality, Tenebrae’s vision is to deliver dramatic programming, flawless performances and unforgettable experiences, allowing audiences around the world to be moved by the power and intimacy of the human voice.
REVIEWS:
The variety of carols is enchanting: Tenebrae includes pieces by authors from the twentieth century (such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Elizabeth Poston and Herbert Howells), from the nineteenth century (such as Edward W. Naylor) or contemporary (such as Owain Park , Joanna Marsh, Joseph Phibbs and Joanna Forbes l'Estrange), all well-contrasted samples of Christmas music. Short — who presents a new version of Britten's work, A Ceremony of Carols op. 28, a piece full of charm perhaps because of the mystery of the ancient texts—he has done an exceptional job with the musicians in his choir, accompanied by Camilla Pay's harp.
Highlights include the delicate That Yongë Childe ('That little boy'), with a solo of Joshua Davidson—former chorister of the St. John's College—as well as an exquisite duet of soloists Grace Davidson and Martha McLorinan in Spring Carol and the enchanting This Little Babe, in a lyrical and dynamic interpretation of the female voices to the rhythm of the harp. Pay's imaginative and personal interpretation of the interlude deserves a commendable mention. The voices of the choir have been very successful in performing Advent music, such as Marsh's In Winter's House, composed in 2019 for the tenors and basses of the Tenebrae Choir, and the beautiful Advent 'O' Carol by the composer Forbes l'Estrange. Likewise, the version of the traditional Christmas carol The Truth Sent from Above, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams, has the splendid baritone Joseph Edwards as soloist.
With his plurality of perspectives, Nigel Short offers a very coherent proposal not only for his varied repertoire but also for the rigor with which he synthesizes the knowledge he has acquired at the head of the Tenebrae Choir.
Pärt: Odes of Repentance / Lingas, Cappella Romana
Cappella Records
CD
$19.99Oct 13, 2023
The Eastern Orthodox understanding of repentance doesn’t dwell on morose sorrow for past transgressions. Instead it focuses on deliverance and optimism: repentance, from the Greek metánoia, is a change of mind, a fundamentally positive redirection. This recording presents Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox choral works for the first time as a service (or office) of supplication (Greek paráklesis, Slavonic molében). The office is built around the singing of a Byzantine poem called a kanon, on this occasion three odes from Pärt’s monumental Kanon Pokajanen (Kanon of Repentance).
Compositions by Pärt likewise comprise the other elements of this office: a Gospel reading marks the center of the service (The Woman with the Alabaster Box) completed by psalmody, Orthodox hymns, and fervent prayers. Pärt’s transcendent “Prayer after the Kanon” eventually gives way to silence, to the prayer of the heart. Cappella Romana transforms hearts and minds through encounters with the sacred musical inheritance of the Christian East and West, bringing to life these ancient and diverse traditions, especially of Byzantium, and their interactions with other cultures. Cappella Romana is devoted to the stewardship of this precious jewel of world culture. Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance is Cappella Romana’s 31st release.
REVIEWS:
In this album, the stars, the galaxies, all the wonders of a distant universe seem to touch us through the medium of sound. Whether or not one is knowledgeable about Eastern sacred music, this is an album of supreme artistry to cherish, heed, and enjoy.
Under the direction of Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana’sOdes of Repentanceis a selection of Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox works woven into a service of public and private prayers of supplication and renewal. While Pärt is widely identified with works having an Eastern spiritual flavor, his pedagogical background derives from Western classical music and the musical traditions of the Roman Catholic church. However, since his conversion to Orthodoxy some 50 years ago, the public has come to associate Pärt with music as inspired by Eastern Christianity.
Odesconsists of 12 spellbinding tracks which give voice to the human yearning to be cleansed of past mistakes and to make positive changes in one’s future life. As the excellent booklet notes in Church Slavonic and English tell us, these prayers are less an expression of sorrow than they are an affirmation of rebirth. This renascence is expressed eloquently through Pärt’s music in an imaginative flow of melodies, modal harmonies, unexpected twists and turns, and the composer’s uniquetintinnabulitechnique.
What I found most absorbing in this recording was the variety of musical utterances, the splendid multiplicity of sounds, rhythms and tremors. Something new is lurking around the corner of every measure, sometimes as puzzling as our own contemplated destinies.
The album begins with an Ode from theTriodionand two Slavic Psalms (Psalm 131, “Lord, my heart is not haughty” King James Version [KJV] and the Doxology Psalm 116). The Ode is the first of three in this recording from theTriodion, a liturgical book used in the Eastern Church during Lent. Seven selections from theKanon of Repentanceshine at the heart of the album.
These tracks could not be more different. Slow staccato notes tiptoe under a silvery upper register in the third track while an almost Western sensibility shapes the sound of the fourth (did I hear a touch of Mahler?). The swinging rhythms and unexpected pauses ofKanon Ode 9remind us that “we aren’t in Kansas anymore”, but, rather, in a world that sometimes stretches far beyond the Western orientation of many listeners.
The album also includes a sung “reading” from the Gospel of Matthew, “The Woman with the Alabaster Box” (“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” KJV). Pärt’s music floats effortlessly from the ensemble and melts into the next selection, scattered with little discords.
This is Cappella Romana’s 31st album. While the group specializes in the sacred music of the Christian East and West, it is known largely for its stewardship of the music of Byzantium and the works of Arvo Pärt. Those of us raised in Western cultural traditions have missed much if we have ignored or been deprived of the legacy of Eastern sacred music, old or new. There is a core of authenticity in Pärt’s work that has endeared it, even in his lifetime, to millions around the world.
Originally issued on the 2LP set Nativity in 1976, this classic Vox recording is a fine example of Robert Shaw’s expertise as a choral conductor. The album features a selection of carols, choral works and orchestral Christmas favourites performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Produced by the legendary Elite Recordings team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz, and newly remastered from the original analogue tapes in high-definition.
For nearly 20 years, Seraphic Fire’s Christmas concerts have heralded the change of seasons for our audiences in South Florida, and there is no piece more associated with these yearly musical celebrations than Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. Written by Elizabeth Poston, English composer and purported World War II spy for the Allies, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree takes a Federal-era American text and clothes it in music so simple, that it could easily be an 18th-century colonial hymn. With its elegant treble-voice verse and luxurious ending canon, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree has become an indispensable part of Christmastide for thousands of our friends in our hometown of Miami, FL, and beyond.
With Poston’s masterpiece as our polestar, this new holiday recording by Seraphic Fire celebrates the simple and the authentic. From Praetorious’s double choir setting of In dulci jubilo and Gottfried Wolter’s spine-tingling Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, to familiar American carols arranged by composer contemporaries of Seraphic Fire (including Susan LaBarr, Edwin Fissinger, Timothy Takach, and Seraphic Fire’s founder Patrick Dupre Quigley), this new recording hopes to introduce new settings of old melodies that will hopefully become instant classics in your Christmas soundscape. Each Seraphic Fire Christmas program is special, and we hope that The Apple Tree: Christmas with Seraphic Fire will continue our tradition of bringing peaceful, tuneful contemplation to our beloved audiences, near and far. – James K. Bass
Recorded in the middle of a European tour in December 2024, this release marks the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists debut of acclaimed French conductor Christophe Rousset. Rousset brings his Gallic elegance and refinement to Charpentier's Baroque Christmas music - the motet In Nativitatem and the Messe de minuit pout Noel, along with the instrumental noels, or Christmas carols, that form the basis of Charpentier's unique mass.
