A superb Christmas sampler

Choral Music for Christmas: works by J.S. Bach, Zelenka, Mendelssohn, Reger, Saint-Saens, Handel & others

Summer is winding down; autumn officially arrives tomorrow, so what is coming up Real Soon Now? That's right, the Holiday Season! At Christmas, we're always looking out for new music we've never heard, but not forgetting all the same works we love to hear every year. The Sampler Disc is a great chance to do this, and we have an especially good one here from Carus. You may not know Heinichen's Te Deum laudamus, but I plan on putting it in my regular Xmas playlist rotation; the same for Zelenka's Laudate pueri Dominum. These are very fine performances, with stylish playing, and good recent recordings (2004 and 2012). Then you get a really nice Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, from Kammerchor Stuttgart & Barokorchester Stuttgart. This to-ing and fro-ing between evergreens and surprisingly lovely unfamiliar works goes on through the whole disc, with a focus on very high quality choral singing and fine orchestral support, all at a reasonable price. I'll let you choose your own favourites, but I have to single out another amazing song. It's Philip Lawson's arrangement of Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, sung by the Calmus Ensemble; it was included in their 2009 disc Calmus Christmas Carols. Pour yourself an eggnog and listen:



I recommend this disc very highly. Merry Christmas!

Here are the details of the works included:

This disc will be released on October 6, 2017.

Music of awakening sensibilities

Dresden: Chamber music by Califano, Fasch, Heinichen, Lotti, Quantz, Telemann, Vivaldi

Zefiro's very fine oboe and bassoon players come to the fore again in this album of chamber music from the Dresden court of Friedrich August I around 1720. Music in the Italian style at this stage in musical history meant virtuosity, yes, but more importantly expressiveness and sparkle. These are highly entertaining sonatas, trio sonatas and quartets, which occasionally attain something close to the profound, especially in works by Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Friedrich Fasch.  This music from these two fine composers stands out from any hint of background court music as routine elevator music. Don't think of the lounge pianist playing under sightly drunken conversations and waiters dropping trays, but rather Bill Evans' Trio playing Live At the Village Vanguard, with a mainly rapt, largely musically engaged audience. There's a sense of awakening sensibilities that moves toward the pre-Romantic Sturm und Drang movement later in the century. The stylish playing is a sign of Alfredo Bernardino's group's completely secure Historically Informed Performance tradition. Having singled out the playing of the winds, I should not forget to praise the excellent continuo players, who provide solid support with the occasional sparkling, and historically informed, insertion of their own.

This album is due to be released on October 20, 2017.

Great, but no bizarre

This new album from the Irish Baroque Orchestra is a lovely package of Baroque concertos, all but one of which are from north of the Alps. The music of the time is so full of melodic invention, instrumental colour and sophisticated musical effects, with so many opportunities to appeal to both sense and sensibility. Still, with thousands of albums of concertos quite like this out there, I'm sure it's hard to find a marketing hook for another one, even one with such appealing music.

The keynote of the album, I realized after my first listen, is instrumental colour. There are concertos here for these solo and group of solo instruments:

• Flute and Oboe
• 2 Violins and Bassoon
• Oboe
• 2 Cellos
• 2 Oboes da caccia, 2 Violas, 2 Bassoons
• Bassoon
• Flute d'amore, Oboe d'amore and Viola d'amore

That's quite an interesting mix, and one that ensures you won't get bored with this programme. I was especially anxious to hear what the last piece, Graupner's Concerto for Flute d'amore, Oboe d'amore and Viola d'amore, would sound like. I'd call it lovely, if only so I could make a multi-lingual pun, as weak as it is. The three instruments all have a rich, earthy sound, which Graupner emphasizes by providing sensual, though hardly orgiastic, music.

But "Concerti Bizarri"? Though there are interesting instrumental combinations here, I'd stop well short of calling this music bizarre, especially after listening to some of the truly odd music by Heinrich Biber on the last album I reviewed, Ars Antiqua Austria's Accordato. This is music well on the Enlightenment Civilization side of the spectrum. The only thing bizarre about this album is the fabulous gargoyle on the album cover.

None of this really matters, though, does it? This is amazing music, by some of my favourite composers. I loved the Fasch, and the Vivaldi, and the Telemann; what fine composers they are! I'm a big fan of Monica Huggett's approach to this repertoire, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra can deliver a slight edge without losing any freshness and melodic appeal. The IBO soloists and players are all superb, providing the best possible advocacy for this unfamiliar music. Just sit back, admire that handsome lug of a gargoyle, and listen to the music.