Home » Jazz Articles » Bailey's Bundles » Holiday 2014: Mostly A Cappella

4

Holiday 2014: Mostly A Cappella

By

Sign in to view read count
Choral Christmas is here in spades. The Boys of St. Paul's Choir School pits itself with Noel Edison and his Festival Elora Singers in similar programs while Capriccio Records offers a Baroque embarrassment of wealth from the time of Bach.

John Robinson, Director; The Boys of St. Paul's Choir School
Christmas in Harvard Square
Decca Records
2014

The Boys of St. Paul's Choir School of Boston are looking to take the Christmas Choral mantle from The King's College Choir, Cambridge (England) with their holiday release Christmas in Harvard Square. The two choir's repertoires are not markedly different nor are their memberships, both boy choirs that feature a goodly number of trebles. It is striking to note the purity of sound in the boy treble voice and easy to understand their popularity in choral circles. Here, their presence enhances the expansive power of "Once in Royal David's City" and the intimate darkness of "Still, Still, Still" or "In The Bleak Midwinter." Director John Robinson's arrangements tend toward the more daring when compared to King's, but the group never veers off the road even in the more demanding parts. Recorded well in back, the Choir is captured in a deeply resonate splendor, that is almost too far away, but fine, never the less.

Elora Festival Singers; Michael Blass; Noel Edison, Director
The Wonder of Christmas
Naxos Records
2014

Noel Edison and the Elora Festival Singers have provided varying programs for Naxos Records, including Arvo Part's Berliner Messe, Passio and Triodion, among others. The Canadian Choir turns in a hearty collection of holiday favorites, mostly of the traditional sacred variety. Edison's conducting is crisp and the Choir is possesses a fully mature sound that juxtaposes well with the Boys of St. Paul's Choir School, illustrating the strengths of each configuration. A superb "Dancing Day," as well as a slow-flowing "Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming" are found here. John Tavener's "Rocking" is shimmering and transluecent, like St. Paul's dark glass, while the traditional spiritual "I Wonder as I Wander" is transformed, pillowed by the choir trebles and established in the lower registers. This is a very capable holiday offering.

Various Artists
Baroque Christmas: Cantatas Motets
Capriccio Records
2014

Capriccio Records mined its considerable holdings to draw together from multiple sources Christmas cantatas and motets, mostly, but not exclusively from the Bach family. There are other usual suspects included: Christian Geist, Dietrich Buxtehude, George Philipp Telemann...you get the idea. These pieces were recorded between 1984 and 2008, providing an ample sampling for the Capriccio Christmas catalog.

Of the pieces presented, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach's motet Wachet auf, fust uns die Stimme is particularly fine. Papa Bach's contribution there is hi Lobe den herrn, meine seele BWV 143. The elder Bach liked to pull out all of the stops and present BIG SOUND Cantatas, something he does presently. The performance is warm and surrounding, smelling of church incense. The Buxtehude is equally fine as is Pal Esterhazy's brief, but satisfying, Cur fles, Jesu. A good sampler of the period.

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
Candid
Sunny Five
Inside Colours Live
Julie Sassoon

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.