The holiday season brings its share of annual novelties. Sacred works linked to Christmas, recitals by lyrical stars or choirs of various origins: what can we remember from the 2023 vintage?
The most promising release of this end of year was undoubtedly, from Decca, A Choral Christmas displaying the vocal ensemble Voces8, reinforced by the Voces8 Foundation Choir & Orchestra. The British vocal ensemble has often given us records with a magical atmosphere, which is not the case in this program marked by grandiloquence and which includes at its heart a work of more than 20 minutes, a magnificat by Taylor Scott Davis, commissioned for the Live from London festival organized by Voces8 during the pandemic.
The project poses a double problem: having a third of music that says nothing to anyone and the general tone, totally opposed to the image of Voces8, the arrangements being the work of the same American composer Taylor Scott Davis. On this account, for an atmosphere “ Christmas Pops “, we return to the indestructible gala of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra published by Delos. It can be found on listening platforms by searching for “ Christmas Dallas.” In this same obedience, still at Delos, the Christmas with Roger Wagner does the job perfectly.
Replace Tebaldi
Decca had much better luck with the Christmas recital of its diva Lise Davidsen. The program Christmas from Norway fulfills its mission perfectly. And to who recently admitted to me that his Renata Tebaldi: Christmas Festival was a little planed, Decca just provided a perfect gift idea! Even for Tebaldi admirers, there is a sweet closeness in Davidsen’s record which shows that 50 years have passed and that this is not a “diva who sings from her pedestal”, but a singer who addresses to us (in various languages).
For those who organize instrumental tracks in their playlists, Jeroen van Veen has published a double album, Merry Christmas Pianomania. The specialist in minimalist music at Brilliant Classics goes there with arrangements that are a little loud and not very intimate. We very much prefer to recall here, at Analekta, the Pianissimo Christmas of the Campion-Vachon duo or the Little Christmas by Alain Lefèvre, produced with more tact.
On the choral side, the Choir of King’s College Cambridge and the Britten Sinfonia have published a 23-minute CD (this is not a gift!), very beautiful that said, with six Christmas orchestrations by John Rutter: Silent Night (in English of course), three works by Rutter and two island traditionals. It can be listened to very pleasantly on the platforms. In the very popular and perfect genre, Warner released a compilation on December 6 Merry Christmas with the Choir of King’s College perfectly composed. Solid risk-free choice. In the same genre of popular tunes, Signum offers an admirable novelty: Christmas ! of the Armonico Consort. It is in a way the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of On Christmas Day by Martin Dagenais and the Petite Bande de Montréal, which is not the least compliment.
Intellectualize the party
At Hyperion, The Gesualdo Six publish Morning Star, a repertoire encompassing as many centuries of music as possible, from plainchant to works of our time. It is, in the field of “cerebral” disks, the most in-depth and accomplished proposition. The succession, for example, of Arvo Pärt, Gregorian and Roland de Lassus is supposed to immerse us in a meditative state. We must recognize that this is indeed what is happening.
At this stage of the evocation of the program which is not “popular” but thought-out and edifying, it is impossible for us not to evoke a disc which is not specifically “Christmas” but “winter”, fascinating for those interested in the medieval repertoire. It is Winter Journey, published at the end of October by the Lautten Compagney at DHM. The music dates from the 17the century, with works by Erlebach, Hammerschmidt, Praetorius, Schütz, Schein and popular songs.
All this ultimately leaves us with little to grind and we can only regret that the Orchester Métropolitain did not immortalize his concert Holiday tunes of 2022.