These sonatas were published in 1780 in Venice, where Giovanni Battista Grazioli (1746-1828) had become an organist at St Mark’s Basilica two years earlier; and in 1785 he would be appointed principal organist, on the death of Baldassare Galuppi. He was known in his own time as an especially accomplished performer whose compositions concentrated on work for the church, though these collections of keyboard works were evidently designed for domestic consumption. Nearly all the 12 sonatas are structured in a conventional quick-slow-quick three-movement form, most of them in major keys, and notable for their elegant melodies and wealth of invention. The recording’s coda represents Grazioli’s work at St Mark’s with a Pastorale for organ composed for use over the Christmas season. This is probably the first-ever complete recording of Grazioli’s harpsichord sonatas (not to be confused with the organ sonatas by his son Alessandro). It marks the third appearance on Brilliant by the Veronese early-music specialist Chiara Minali. Her previous albums of Marcello (95277) and Ignaz Spergher (95834) have won glowing reviews for the technical finesse and expressive refinement of her playing. “Chiara Minali is a superb organist and harpsichordist.” La Pagina dell’Organo (Marcello).

The addition of a brass ensemble to Christmas concerts and carol services, combining with the more traditional sounds of choir and organ, has become increasingly popular in recent years. This recording brings together a number of works for the specific forces of choir, brass quintet, organ and percussion, some of which have been arranged specially for this release. Interspersed amongst these works are a selection of popular Christmas carols which have formed and integral part of Winchester College Chapel Choir’s core repertoire for many years. Winchester College was founded by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, in 1382, and Winchester College Quiristers have for over 625 years sung services in Winchester College Chapel. In modem times they have formed a choir renowned for its excellence. Having celebrated its 25th anniversary in the 2017-18 season, Onyx Brass continues to be the leading light in establishing the brass quintet as a medium for serious chamber music, inspired by the pioneering early years of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. To this end, the group has commissioned and performed the world premières of over 200 new works, with many more in the pipeline for performance and recording.

REVIEWS:

The heart of this grouping of Christmas songs is the cantata A Winter’s Night by Cecilia McDowall. That is not really new music; all the tunes are traditional ones, arranged by the composer. Some seem unnecessarily complex, but that’s what contemporary composers do. In the end, it’s all very English, but not unfamiliar, and if you like organ and brass along with a choir you might well go for this.

– American Record Guide

The Choral Scholars is an internationally acclaimed chamber choir of gifted student singers led by founding Artistic Director, Dr. Desmond Earley, based at University College Dublin College of Arts & Humanities. Scholars come from various academic disciplines and commit to an intensive programme of choral study. Be all Merry is one of three new pieces especially composed for the Choral Scholars. This lively carol for choir, orchestra and violin by Irish composer Eoghan Desmond evokes the joyful play of Christmas in the lines ‘Be all merry in this house/Exultet celum laudibus!’. The recording contains a remarkable setting of the Advent plainsong hymn Christe Redemptor Omnium for tenor solo, chorus, violin and violoncello by Ivo Antognini, crafted for Choral Scholars with the kind support of the Swiss Embassy in Dublin. The Adoration of the Magi by American composer Timothy Stephens is a breathtaking setting of W. B. Yeats’ poetry. A beautiful Irish-language lullaby – Cró na Nollag – set by father and son, Adhamhnán and Uinseann Mac Domhnaill, and the much-loved Scottish tune simply titled Suantraí, are also included. The Irish Chamber Orchestra are also featured on a number of tracks including The Wexford Carol and Carol of the Bells. The choir closes the album with the song most associated with friendship, hope and the promise of a new year, Auld Lang Syne. The post-production phase of this recording project took place as the world grappled with the outbreak of COVID-19. American composer Linda Kachelmeier’s piece – We Toast the Days – serves as a reminder of the strength, love and hope that resonates throughout the world not simply at Christmastide but also during periods of hardship.

REVIEW:

Like the Winchester Quiristers, the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin are unique – a relatively new group of collegiate singers who trade a chapel for an intriguing commercial instinct. Be All Merry is a slick album of new, largely unrecognisable settings of old carols woven through with the sound of Gaelic folk song, much of it from the fiddle of the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s concertmaster. It provides that one thing we badly need from Christmas albums – something different that’s still consistent and festive – and only occasionally edges into processed cheese despite every track being suitable for a TV chat show’s play-out. If you can take a degree of Gaelic mistiness there is plenty to enjoy. The jagged arrangement of the Carol of the Bells by conductor Desmond Earley caught my ear, sung by a choir very well trained with an idea of its own sound.

-- Gramophone

This new release features excerpts of an exemplary series of cantatas for small ensembles, sung by one of the most well-known specialists in historic performance, Barbara Schlick. The admired German soprano, Barbara Schlick, studied at the College of Music in Würzburg with Henriette Klink-Schneider and with Hilde Wesselmann in Essen, later with Gisela Rohmert and Rudolf Piernay. In 1966 Barbara Schlick joined Adolf Scherbaum’s Baroque ensemble as a soloist, and began to sing widely in Europe. In 1972 she toured North America as soloist with Paul Kuentz and his chamber orchestra. In subsequent years she established a strong international reputation as an interpreter of baroque and classic music, performing in nearly all of the important musical centres of Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada, America and Russia. Barbara Schlick's interpretations are comprehensively documented through radio, television, and recordings, among others Georg Philipp Telemann’s cantata Ino with Musica Antiqua Köln (Archiv Produktion), J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245), St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), B minor Mass (BWV 232) and Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248). Since 1997 Barbara Schlick has been professor at the College of Music in Cologne and guest instructor at the College of Music in Maastricht.

One of the least explored areas of Beethoven’s compositions is the miscellaneous sequence of canons, early exercises in counterpoint, mature jokes and jeux d’esprit that he wrote over many years. He composed a two-part canon for the composer Hummel in 1816 and in 1823 one for four voices (written in a tavern) for Count Lichnowsky. He also wrote birthday and Christmas greetings for colleagues and friends, and songs that punned on recipients’ names or poked fun at them. Viennese chamber choir Cantus Novus Wiendraws on an extensive repertoire of Baroque, Classical, and contemporary music, including a cappella choral music, oratorios by Handel and Haydn, and requiems by Mozart, Brahms, Verdi, and Fauré. Contemporary music is one of the choir’s focal points, including regular world premieres of commissioned pieces. The choir has been conducted by Thomas Holmes since 2001. Ensemble Tamanial is a vocal quartet based in Vienna, Austria. The ensemble was established to provide a place in which to grow and learn as musicians through undertaking soloist responsibility across a wide variety of musical styles, including Renaissance, Classical, Romantic and also in contemporary works. For these Beethoven recordings the ensemble have been working closely with Thomas Holmes as their musical director and wish to express their deep gratitude.

This release—the Taylor Festival Choir’s second album for Delos—features original Christmas works by two distinguished American composers: Brian Galante, whose choral works and arrangements have met with worldwide acclaim; and the late, great Stephen Paulus, whose many choral and orchestral compositions have been performed by America’s leading choirs and orchestras. The two multi-movement works presented in this album—Galante’s So Hallow’d the Time and Paulus’s Christmas Dances—are heard here in world premiere recordings. Based in Charleston, SC, the Taylor Festival Choir (Robert Taylor, founder and conductor) has gained international recognition since its inception in 2001 as one of America’s finest professional choral ensembles; and proudly claims Brian Galante as its regular Composer-in-Residence. They deliver truly transcendental performances in this lovely recording.

Liam Lawton's High Is the Heaven combines Celtic themes, strong melodies, and poignant texts to create this unique and accessible collection of music for liturgical celebrations and beyond. Like so many of Liam's songs, each exquisite piece has a back story. For example, the psalm "The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor" was written for the Papal Mass of Pope Francis in Ireland. "High Is the Heaven" was written to celebrate the 800th anniversary of St. Columba-one of the ancient Celtic monks who brought Christianity from Ireland to Europe, and the Christmas piece "There's a Star" was written for Liam's own parish choir in Ireland. This shorter collection contains a wide variety of songs for worship. In true Lawton fashion, he injects the beauty and spirituality of his homeland into every song. You will not want to miss High Is the Heaven. Grab it for your library today!

Enjoy 30 selections of Appalachian, Shape-Note, Shaker, Gospel, bluegrass, and other traditional folk music from 1930's America, recorded LIVE at the 2019 Christmas Revels in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “2019’s Christmas Revels isn’t just set in the American heartland, it comes from the American heart.” (Boston Globe) “I can’t recall a Christmas Revels production better than this one, timed to recall the spirit of the holiday and the traditions that unite us as a nation.” (Iris Fanger, Cambridge Chronicle) “Revels’ exploration of the roots of American music covers a wide geographic swath from New England to the South. The musicians are top-notch...Carolyn Saxon slays with her vocals!” (Broadway World)

The title of the present selection of choral music from countries and epochs, Mirabile Mysterium (Latin for “Wondrous / Astonishing Mystery”), refers to the birth of Jesus Christ, by which nothing less than the incarnation of God is meant: out of love God renounces his almighty power and becomes a weak human being who like us is subject to suffering and death. Spiritual consideration of this mystery of faith, which the whole of Christendom celebrates every year at Christmas, has inspired composers of religious persuasions to write very special works. Along with the works specifically concerning themselves with the Christmas event and qualifying as Christmas songs in the stricter sense of the term, we also find, primarily at the beginning of the program, some genuine Advent songs. Even during what for Christians were pagan times, the word adventus (Latin for “arrival”) designated both the visit of a human ruler and the presence of a deity in his temple. As in the case of the visit of a state dignitary, certain spiritual exercises were undertaken in preparation for the visit of a god. As a result, the idea that an event begins already with its preparation was transferred to the spiritual sphere. The Church borrowed this concept for a period of inner reflection intended to convey an inkling of the incomprehensible gift granted to humankind in the miracle of Christmas. This program spanning six centuries offers us the opportunity to trace the history of the spiritual fusion of the Advent and Christmas seasons in music.

Unknown Blessings: Finding God in Worship and the World is a collection by Carol Browning featuring songs for prayer and worship. As a Quaker, Carol strives to be guided by the Inner Light (or Christ Light) in her writing/arranging and in her life. In the fast-paced world of today, Carol’s songs and arrangements invite us to “have the faith of a child,” to “come and rest,” to listen to the “Indwelling Christ,” to “give thanks for unknown blessings,” and to know that “all shall be well.” Carol Browning is a long-time pastoral musician and liturgist, mainly in Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Presbyterian settings, although she is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). She is a liturgical composer, published by GIA Publications, World Library Publications, and MorningStar Music, and an independently published inspirational songwriter. She enjoys working with other composers and text writers. As a member of the Collegeville Composers Group, Carol and fellow composers (Anna Betancourt; Catherine Christmas; Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam.; Dr. Paul Ford; and Paul Inwood) created a new music program, entitled Psallite and published by Liturgical Press, written in a truly collaborative manner.

A festive Christmas concert of motets, songs and instrumental settings, telling about the coming Saviour and his birth. A 17th century Christmas night in Augsburg. It is part and parcel of the close relationship to Augsburg shared by all of the featured composers that the concerns of both Christian faiths, the Catholic and the Protestant, are taken into account in their music. The music as such was considered to be above and beyond denomination. The music's striving for "harmony" overcomes all human conflict with the promise of the eternal peace of Christmas, disclosed by the angel's hymn of the biblical Annuciation: "Et in terra pax hominibus".

Another in Harbinger Records’ acclaimed series of Broadway Backers’ Auditions, I Love My Wife Backers’ Audition is a swinging romp about swinging singles with an equally swinging score by Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart. And it’s those songwriters who play the score and narrate the story. Singing duties are also shared by Broadway legend Laurie Beechman and Broadway mainstay Austin Pendleton. This merry quartet has a ball and so will the listeners.

The recording was made to send out to potential backers to entice them to invest in the show. Those who did found this intimate show (the musicians also played parts in the piece) to be a sleeper hit. It opened at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre on April 17, 1977 and entranced the critics. New York Times critic Clive Barnes enthused that the show was “bright, inventive, amusing and breezy.” It ended up playing a remarkable 857 performances.

Our recording also features bonus tracks from two other Cy Coleman shows, Atlantic City, with lyrics by Christopher Gore, and Home Again, with lyrics by Barbara Fried. The five songs excerpted from their demo recordings suggest the range of Coleman’s output in the 1970s.

And for I Love My Wife, informative liner notes by Coleman biographer Andy Propst explain it all. How two couples from the suburbs of Trenton, New Jersey, spend a rollicking Christmas Eve. These friends, with a little help of strong eggnog and other libations (some smoked), decide to explore a ménage-à-quatre. They make it as far as the bed when…Well, we’ll let Mr. Coleman and Mr. Stewart tell you the story. The songs, the story and the enthusiastic creators make this CD a joy to listen to. The 12-page booklet also contains photos from the original Broadway production.

I Love My Wife Backers’ Audition makes for a joyful listening experience and a bit of nostalgia for people of a certain age. A huge hit on Broadway, a rousing score, narration by the creators and performances of two of Broadway’s finest talents. What more could one hope for in today’s parlous times?

This album marks the recording premiere of four cantatas by Gottfried August Homilius for Advent and Christmas. Homilius was the number-one composer of Protestant church music during the second half of the eighteenth century and during his lifetime was regarded as »perhaps today’s very best church composer. “After his death the lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber expressed the view that he was »without contradiction our greatest church composer.” Homilius’ music already displays elements of early Classicism and the sensibility of the empfindsamer Stil, his cantata choruses are frequently homophonic and songlike in design, and polyphonic sections are rather rare. His cantatas composed around 1776 prove to be works of individual design and conception and attest to his mastery as a composer. Arias of great tonal beauty, the naturalness of their expression, and the dramatic suspense of the numbers continue to fascinate listening audiences even today!

Arrangements of five Shaker songs by Kevin Siegfried provide the structure for this album of 20th and 21st century choral works. The texts for this program explore themes of peace, a parent’s love, and awe in God’s creation, concluding with two motets for Advent and Christmas. This extraordinary choir is directed by Deanna Joseph and recorded in the warm acoustics of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta. The internationally award-winning Georgia State University Singers is the School of Music’s premier vocal ensemble. In May of 2017, the University Singers won first place in the renowned Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition. “…the choir sings with great musicality, excellent intonation, clear diction, and a healthy and beautiful pallet of tone colors…” (The Choral Scholar)

There are no original works for women's or girls' choir and no octet in the so-called 'Schubert line-up'. The well thought-out arrangements of romantic Christmas music by master arranger Andreas N. Tarkmann presented here are so appealing that one can only wonder why the composers have not come up with the idea of writing for this line-up... A group of musicians doesn't yet constitute an orchestra. On the other hand, if eight extraordinary artists, who love music and love even more playing music together form an ensemble, the result is spectacular. The uniqueness of the ensemble Oktoplus, founded in 2006 in Hannover, is reflected in it's name. Every chamber music lover knows Schubert's famous octet. Oktoplus takes over this work of Romanticism as well as many unknown works of the classical and modern octet. Depending on the piece or project, the "plus" stands for expansion of the ensemble to enrich the program.