Choral

November 26, 2022

# 66

VA - Greatest Christmas Carols
1998

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©1998 product of Platinum Disc Corporation

Genre : Choral

This is one of the few Christmas compilation CDs I have that gives no credit to who the performing artists might be.  This CD was extremely difficult to put together for this review, and I’m still not sure if I have it right.  First off, the track listing on the back of the CD shows 11 songs, but there are actually 12 songs on the CD itself.  At first, I assumed the extra song was at the end, but upon close listening, I discovered I was wrong.  I had to spend a lot of time with a few carols that I am not that familiar with.  Some were easy to hear the title in the lyrics, and others were hard to discern with all the choral voices singing in layered harmonies; it was difficult to understand the lyrics.  To the rescue SoundHound and Shazam!  In addition to playing music on demand, SoundHound and Shazam are music service apps known for discovering song titles and artists of unknown songs.  I played all the songs through both services to get confirmation as to who the choirs were.

During the process, one song came up mis-named, I think.  Both SoundHound and Shazam came up with the same song title for the song, but it did not match with what is on the CD.  I went with the SoundHound and Shazam results.

Through these services, I was able to put names to the artists on all the songs except one.  I couldn’t get solid confirmation for Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on either SoundHound, or Shazam, and they were coming up with different names, but they had the song title right.  I wasn’t able to listen to the results, so I just left that one as ‘Unknown Artist’.

I think I have it close to being right.  I can’t guarantee anything.  Many of the few choruses present all sound the same.  But when you have large cathedral choruses singing a cappella, they’re at the very least going to sound similar.

This Christmas compilation CD comes to us from the Platinum Disc Corporation, but insights into the record label don’t produce any new information.  The CD itself comes up on Discogs.com, but they also list it as ‘Unknown Artist’.

The CD cover shows a painting of a house covered in deep snow.  The house appears brightly lit inside with all the windows showing that the rooms inside have their lights on.  I guess we are to assume that this is an old English cottage that is entertaining a Christmas party inside.  The CD title appears in the top right corner in white letters with dark shadowing.

The back of the CD shows the same painting as found on the front cover, except the CD title appears at the top left in the same white letters with dark shadowing.  To the right is a numerical track listing.  Label logos and typical copywrite notices appear at the bottom left.

The back of the CD cover is completely blank.  I’m not too surprised.  This is obviously an inexpensive CD.

All the songs featured here are, as the CD title declares, great Christmas carols.  All are old traditional carols, and most titles should be familiar.  There are a few titles that are not heard as often, but they should still be familiar to some listeners.

If my research is correct, there are four different English cathedral choirs presented on this CD.  One is the Norwich Cathedral Choir, another is the Ely Cathedral Choir, another the Wells Cathedral Choir and the last is the Chapel Choir of Marlborough College.  And there is still one unknown, but I think they are one of the ones already here, I’m just not sure which one.

Norwich Cathedral is located in Norwich, Norfolk, England.  The choir has been in existence since 1096.  The choir contains 12 men, 20 boys and 24 girls.  The Norwich Cathedral Choir performs six carols on this CD.  Three of those, Unto Us A Son Is Born, O Little Town Of Bethlehem and O’ Come All Ye Faithful feature the choir accompanied by Neil Taylor on the cathedral organ.  The three other songs, The Holly And The Ivy, Away In A Manger and Deck The Halls are a cappella.  The best ones are the a cappella ones.  It is always pleasant to hear just the voices without any instrumentation.

Ely Cathedral is located in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.  I don’t know how long the choir has been in existence, but the cathedral itself dates to 1083.  The Ely Cathedral Choir presents two carols.  The first, The Three Kings is performed a cappella.  The other is Once In Royal David’s City, accompanied by a cathedral organ.  I believe this song is the extra track included on the CD but not listed in the track listing.

Wells Cathedral is located in Wells, Somerset, England.  The choir has been in existence since 909.  The choir contains 12 men, 18 boys and around 18 girls.  The Wells Cathedral Choir performs two songs.  The first, Hail Blessed Virgin Mary, is sung a cappella.  The other, Sussex Carol, is performed accompanied by a cathedral organ.  Hail Blessed Virgin Mary is the one I believe is mis-named on the CD.  Shazam brings up this title, and the song is the same exact song.  SoundHound brings up an entirely different carol, and it doesn’t sound the same as the one on the CD.

Marlborough College is located in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England.  I don’t know how long the choir has been in existence, but the college was established in 1843.  The Chapel Choir of Marlborough College has only one song on here.  Ding Dong is the last one listed on the CD.  The choir is accompanied by a cathedral organ, flute and light chimes.

Unfortunately, the CD begins with the one carol I can’t put a name to the performers.  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is accompanied by a cathedral organ only, but they could be any of the four that were mentioned earlier.  The title matches the lyrics, so I know that’s right.

England is certainly known for its large, expansive cathedrals.  And each one houses a choir.  There are many, many English Cathedral Choirs to choose from.  I like having them in my Christmas music collection, and one day I will set out to get most of the ones I don’t already have.  I don’t feel the need to get every Christmas CD by every English cathedral choir, but I would like to have at least one from as many as I can find.

This Christmas CD is in a very specific area of desiring.  Most people like having one or two in their collection, but if you’re wanting Rudolph, Frosty or Santa, this will disappoint you greatly.  Cathedral choir releases are similar to the Trappist Monks and other Gregorian chant CDs available.  One or two songs are great, but to sit and listen to them all day would require a special fondness.  (I have at least two Christmas CDs of Gregorian chant music, so look for reviews of those in this blog’s future).

The choirs are certainly enjoyable to listen to, but to force your friends to listen to one straight through would probably put a damper on any festive get together.  These mix in well with a large Christmas song playlist because they offer more of what the season is about.  Production is usually minimal.  The large cathedrals give the choirs a lot of room to fill, and their voices fill the chambers with festive, solemn and sacred harmonies.  The instrumentation, if any at all, is usually a cathedral organ.  Some choirs use light orchestras as well, but the music never overshadows the voices.

If those qualities interest you, I recommend you seek out a Christmas CD or a double CD set of an established English cathedral choir.  But I recommend you don’t go out of your way to find this one.  There is no information as to what you are listening to.  If you see this at a yard sale for $1.00, pick it up, put it in with all the others and you’ll be fine.

There isn’t anything wrong with this CD per se, just the lack of performing credits.  If they were here, and the CD track listing was more accurate, then I’d be all in on this one.  But it’s not.

I give this CD :

**

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October 28, 2022

# 45

Trapp Family Singers
Christmas With The Trapp Family Singers
2004

(Originally released 1953 on Decca)

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Portrait

This compilation (P) 2004 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg [56’30]
Cover Photo: © Trapp Family Lodge Manufactured and Marketed By Universal Classics Group
Distributed by Universal Music & Video Distribution, Corp.
www.universalclassics.com www.deutschegrammophon.com/trappfamily-christmas

Genre : Choral

The Trapp Family Singers.  Doesn’t everyone know who the Trapp Family Singers are?  If you saw The Sound Of Music, whether the 1959 Broadway production, the 1965 Hollywood movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, or any recent adaptations, then you know The Trapp Family Singers.  The movie, et al, was based on the von Trapp Family.  Julie Andrews played their Austrian nanny in the movie version.

I’m guessing 50% of people have NOT heard of the von Trapp Family.  I had vaguely heard of them until I got this CD.  I had not seen The Sound Of Music yet.  I got this because it contains an original 1951 Christmas album of carols sung by a family chorus.  Perfect.  I’ll take it.  And the cover really sold me.

The von Trapp Family was a mix of ten children from two different marriages.  Capt. Georg van Trapp of Salzburg, Austria and his wife had a family of seven children when their mother died.  He became romantically involved with the nanny he hired to watch the children and after marriage, he and his second wife had three more children.

The von Trapp Family were a very musical family.  Their new stepmother, Maria, would get them to sing together.  They enjoyed it and continued to get better with practice.  During one of their rehearsals, they were encouraged to enter a local contest, and they won.  Shortly after, they started touring all around Austria.

Mind you, this is all taking place around 1938.  After Germany annexed Austria, the von Trapp family moved to the Netherlands.  They began touring the world and after touring the United States, they returned to stay in 1939.  They eventually settled in Vermont and bought a six-hundred-acre farm.  They became very famous throughout the world, but as a family group, they stopped performing in 1957.

After retiring, most of the children, who were all adults by now, went their separate ways.  One of the sons and Maria von Trapp managed the Trapp Family Lodge as a tourist attraction.

They recorded five or six albums for Decca, but overall, their record output was small compared to how much in demand they were.  Of these few albums, The Trapp Family Singers, as they were now called, released Christmas With The Trapp Family Singers in 1953.  The original album was recorded in 1951.

This is a terrific reissue from Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg.  There are all the 18 songs from the original album, plus an additional seven bonus tracks.  The track list for the CD follows the original album track list.  The first 18 songs were recorded in 1951 and the seven bonus tracks are from 1953.

The cover of the CD reissue is quite different from the cover of the album.  The original album had a light green background with The Trapp Family Singers name in big red letters and the words “Christmas with” above their name.  There were graphics made to look like a Christmas ornament, one of which contains a picture of The Trapp Family Singers.  It has a very 1950’s look to it, but plain in comparison to the cover of this CD.

The cover of the CD has a color photograph of The Trapp Family Singers with their choir conductor, Dr. Franz Wasner.  This is presented as a postcard on a red background with the CD title above in gold letters.  The back of the CD features the CD name at the top and below is a running numerical list of the songs included, all on a red background.

The good stuff is inside the CD cover.  The CD cover comes out and has a 20-page booklet that talks about the von Trapp Family’s difficult journey escaping Nazi occupied Austria in 1938.

Inside the front cover is a couple of black and white photos of the von Trapp Family.  On the opposite page and continuing the following page is a numerical list of the songs included.  The songs are grouped according to their composers and the composer’s name comes first and then the songs written by him are listed.  Then the next writer is listed, and those songs are listed.

The songs The Trapp Family Singers sing are old German and European carols with many titles in their native languages.

Starting with the third page, the history of the von Trapp Family and their hardships and achievements is described.  Then there is a brief story about Christmas in Austria.  There is also a great story about how the carol Silent Night was written.

Throughout the booklet are black and white photos of The Trapp Family Singers.  After the story of Silent Night, all the text is repeated in German.  After the German text are notes on the original recording dates and reissue copywrite notices.  I like it when the liner notes include the information as is on this CD reissue.

The last two pages are dedicated to a personal note from Johannes von Trapp and a picture of the Trapp family Lodge in Vermont, covered in deep snow.  The back of the CD insert features a great black and white photo of The Trapp Family Singers against the same red background found on the covers.

I’m not sure if it needs to be said or not, but all the songs presented here are old Christmas carols and hymns.  Many have German ancestry with authors such as Michael Praetorius, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Abraham Peter Schulz and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

There are a few titles I recognize, Deck The Hall, Jesus, Jesus Rest You Head and The Carol Of The Drum (The Little Drummer Boy).  But with most titles in German or Latin, they are unrecognizable to me.

Don’t let that intimidate you!  These are fantastic Christmas carols and hymns, and The Trapp Family Singers do an incredible job of bringing them all to life.  All but three songs, Ihr Kinderlein, Kommet, and Pastorale And Quem Pastores – Den Die Hirten, are a cappella.  Without having the financial means to hire orchestras and combined with the fact that after fleeing Austria with just backpacks, they had to find a way to make some money and quickly.  Their decision to perform a cappella was brilliant and they became well known for it.

The only accompaniment for Ihr Kinderlein, Kommet, is flute.

Pastorale opens with piano, cello and two flutes.  Upon closer listening, Pastorale is actually an instrumental and no vocals from The Trapp Family Singers are present.  Unfortunately, there is no information on the small group that provides this solemn performance.

Cellos and flutes open Quem Pastores – Den Die Hirten and stay with The Trapp Family Singers throughout the song.

One song in particular, track 13, Nu Ar Det Jul Igen, I had to listen to a few times to see if it too was a cappella, which it is, but the voices are arranged to sound like instruments.  I thought I was hearing a string quartet only to realize it was all being performed by human voices.  The same can be said of The Carol Of The Drum (The Little Drummer Boy).

Because of the a cappella arrangements, there are a lot of quiet passages in the songs, which give this whole CD a reverent aura to it.  This is some of the most beautiful Christmas music you could seek.  After listening to this it seems almost sacrilegious to listen to Frosty The Snowman, or I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.

There are two more songs that deserve mention.  They are Puer Natus Est Nobis (Gregorian Chant) and Senex Puerum Portabat.  Both feature the male vocalists more prominently than most of the other songs.

First the bad news…there is none.  All songs are terrific renditions of Christmas carols and hymns sung reverently and beautifully.  The Trapp Family Singers were dedicated to their craft and outside of Gregorian chant Christmas compilations, you will not find anything remotely like it.

When I listened to this CD multiple times while composing this review, I know why I do this.  If you enjoy the old English choral groups from King’s College and the Royal Choral Society, then you will enjoy this just as much if not more.  Christmas music does not get more reverent, more beautiful or more solemn than what is presented here with The Trapp Family Singers.

I give this CD :

*****

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October 16, 2022

# 27

Norman Luboff Choir
Calypso Holiday / Songs Of Christmas
1999

(Originally released 1956 on Columbia)

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This compilation (P) 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc./Sony Music Special Products. Manufactured by Sony Music Special Products.
© 1999 Collectables Records Corp. Collectables ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Distributed By Collectables Records.
For a complete listing of all Collectables products (and future releases) visit our website at www.oldies.com

# 22 – 1958 – Billboard Pop Albums

Genre : Choral

This is a CD reissue of two Norman Luboff Choir albums from the 1950s, Songs Of Christmas from 1956 and Calypso Holiday from 1957.  This review will focus only on the album from 1956, Songs Of Christmas.  The album, Calypso Holiday, does not include Christmas songs on it.  Rather the songs are island-themed Calypso recordings that have nothing to do with Christmas.

This CD compilation was released by Collectables Records Corp. in 1999.  Collectables Records is a company that specializes in reissuing older albums from the 1950’s through the 1990’s and across all genres of music.

Norman Luboff was an arranger and choir director.  He was born in Chicago in 1917.  He started playing piano as a child and after college he worked with the composer Leo Sowerby.  He moved to Hollywood in the 1940’s and began writing music for radio, TV and motion pictures.  He also worked with some of the biggest selling singers of the time.

Norman Luboff started his choir in the mid-fifties and was known for working with Bing Crosby on his annual Christmas shows on TV.  The Norman Luboff Choir provided the backup chorus for Harry Belafonte on his Calypso album in 1956.  It was the first album to sell one million copies.

The Norman Luboff Choir would release over 70 albums from the 1950’s to the 1980’s.  They would release no less than 7 Christmas albums throughout their existence.  Currently, the only other one I have in my collection is Christmas With The Norman Luboff Choir from 1964.  (Look for a review of that album in this blog’s future).

The Norman Luboff Choir was known as much for their extensive touring as they were for their album releases.  They are considered one of the first modern choirs to make a successful living through album sales.

The front cover of this two-album reissue has pictures of both albums included set on a background of a Christmas tree.  The back cover lists both albums and a numerical track listing with writer credits and time signatures for each album.  At the bottom is a notation designating the release dates and the original catalog numbers for each album.

The front cover opens to a two-fold layout.  Most of the inside is taken up with a brief description of the career of Norman Luboff followed by a brief history behind both albums.  The third page of the inside artwork is a cut away that can be used to send off for a catalog for Collectables Records.  Once folded back up, the back artwork features a full picture of the Calypso Holiday album, a picture of a pink macaw.

I did include a full-size picture of the original album Songs Of Christmas in this review.  It shows a husband and wife with their children putting the star on the Christmas tree, surrounded by lots of ornately wrapped presents.  The title of the album is yellow, written in cursive and sits in the top left corner.  If you want to see what an average Christmas looked like in 1956, this is it.  I really like the original cover of the Christmas album in this collection.  It would have been nice to make the CD insert one page longer and include a full picture of the Christmas album as well as the one from Calypso Holiday.  That way I could have folded it up and used it as the front cover of the CD thereby giving the CD a look of the original Christmas album.

As I stated earlier, this review will take a look at the Songs Of Christmas album only.  There are 6 tracks on here, all in the original order.  All tracks are medleys of traditional Christmas carols and hymns.  There are actually 22 songs included throughout all the medleys, but you won’t find Jingle Bells, Frosty The Snow Man or Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer on here.

Choirs of this magnitude often stick to traditional hymns and carols, but not in all cases.  The songs on here are long songs and that’s a good thing because you get longer versions of each song in the medleys.  Most songs are close to six minutes with some that are up to seven.  Too often medleys will be a typical 3-minute song and if there are 3 songs in the medley, then you only get a snippet of the actual song.

Another good thing about the song selection is that even though they are medleys, each song has a final ending with a brief pause before the next song begins.  These were probably recorded separately and then placed in order.  If I wanted, I could digitally edit these into 22 individual songs and expand my collection a little further.

Many of the selections are a cappella and the ones that aren’t have very little instrumentation, usually just an organ that is barely heard.  The Norman Luboff Choir uses their voices and harmonies to communicate the traditionally arranged Christmas melodies.

There are all your favorite hymns and carols here and a few that you may not be familiar with.  There are carols from all over Europe.  There is Baloo Lammy from Scotland, Whence Come This Rush Of Wings from France, A La Nanita Nana from Spain, O Tannenbaum from Germany and the classic Silent Night from Bavaria.

England has always had their traditional cathedral choirs with some that go back hundreds of years.  Large choirs have been popular in the United States as well.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir probably comes to most people’s minds first.  And there is the Harry Simone Chorale and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers.  The Norman Luboff Choir was right up there with the others.  Their Christmas output throughout the years has shown that they are one of the best Christmas choirs of all time.  Their delicate harmonies and verbose baritones convey the spirit of Christmas very well.

If you enjoy choral music for your Christmas music pleasure, you should have the Norman Luboff Choir in your collection, if you don’t already.

I give this CD :

****

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October 11, 2022

# 16

VA - Basil Rathbone / Lyn Murray Singers
Dickens' Christmas Carol / Christmas Carols
2001

(Originally released 1949 on Columbia Masterworks)

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© 2001 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. / This compilation (P) 2001 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. Manufactured By Sony Music Special Products. / “Sony” Reg. U.S. Patent & TM Office Marca Registrada

Genre : Radio Theatre / Choral

This is an unusual Christmas album in many ways.  First, most items presented on this blog are CDs and LPs of Christmas music.  This is only half that.  Secondly, this compilation, as presented on the CD reissue, was originally released just as presented here, as a long-playing LP in 1949.  It combines a 6-track telling of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol narrated by Basil Rathbone, recorded in 1949, combined with 8 Christmas carols from the Lyn Murray Singers originally recorded and released as a 4-disc set of 78s in 1942.  (I also have a copy of that release).  Thirdly, I find it unusual to combine a radio drama on one side of an LP with songs by a completely different artist on the other side.  But I’ll take it and having it in remastered digital quality is a big bonus!  (Both performers were on the Columbia label at the time, so maybe not that unusual, but certainly not common).

The CD artwork is very good.  The cover of the CD is the same as the cover from the album released in 1949.  The back artwork on the CD has simple titles, a list of performers and a numerical track listing.  The CD cover opens to a two-page fold-out.  The artwork on the back of the fold-out is similar to the artwork on the back of the CD.  The inside artwork of the fold-out is similar to the back of the original LP.  All the original information regarding Basil Rathbone and Dickens’ Christmas Carol is presented here albeit in a different font and structure.  The original information for the Lyn Murray Singers from the album is here, but what’s not included are the songs and their lyrics as was on the original LP.  I still think the information on the CD is excellent since they pretty much duplicated the front and back of the original LP.

The Dickens’ Christmas Carol part of the CD is listed as 6 parts and each has their own title whereas on the original album, they take up all of side one and is one continuous track.  (Why Sony decided to separate them for the CD reissue is beyond me.  The individual tracks play seamlessly with no noticeable space between the end of one and the beginning of the next one).  The Lyn Murray part of the CD has the original track order as it was on the LP.

Basil Rathbone was a British actor born in South Africa.  He appeared on stage in England and the United States during the 19teens.  In the 1920’s, he started his movie career playing villains and swashbuckling characters in silent movies.  He played Sherlock Holmes in a 1939 movie, and it was such a big hit that he continued the character in many more movies throughout the 40’s.  Those eventually got him typecast, but being British, he seemed the perfect actor to portray Ebenezer Scrooge.

For his part of the CD, Basil Rathbone is joined by a large cast performing Dickens’ Christmas Carol with orchestration provided by Leith Stevens & his Orchestra.  Not too overly dramatic, as future presentations would portray, it tells the complete story in 23 minutes and 27 seconds.  It is a good performance spread out over 6 tracks, each between 3 and 5 minutes. The great thing about the CD reissue is, at least in my iTunes, the tracks play seamlessly, with no noticeable change to the next track.  That’s a plus.

The second side of the original album features 8 traditional Christmas carols sung by the Lyn Murray Singers.  Lyn Murray was also British, whose career was spent composing, arranging, and conducting orchestras for radio, movies and later TV.  He emigrated to the United States to attend Julliard and stayed in the US for most of his career.  All of the Christmas songs I currently have by the Lyn Murray Singers are from these recordings made in 1942.  They did a few other singles in the early 40’s with other artists, but their Christmas output seems to be limited to the 8 songs presented here.  (Oh well, it would have been nice to have other Christmas albums released throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, but I’ll take these).

The Christmas carols presented here are traditional in nature, as are the arrangements.  Not too unusual considering many Christmas songs we are familiar with are non-secular and written after 1942.

It is tempting to catalog the Lyn Murray Singers as an a cappella group, and for the most part, they are, except for very light instrumentation, usually provided by organ and chimes.  They are really terrific and are one of my favorite choral groups, along with the Anita Kerr Singers.  (Look for CD reviews of the Anita Kerr Singers in this blog’s future).

There are a few specific things I go out of my way to collect.  One of those things are the issues of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  I have many by many different artists.  Also, I like to collect different issues of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, traditional English Cathedral Choirs and a cappella groups.  I have many different presentations of all those.  (Look for those in this blog’s future).  This CD combines two of those.

This CD reissue of the original album from 1949 is really good.  If you like older presentations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Basil Rathbone and the cast deliver one of the very best.

If you like traditional Christmas carols performed in a traditional manner, with a little 1940’s flavor thrown in, there is no one better than the Lyn Murray Singers.

As I said earlier, it is unusual to have a drama and songs on one CD, and this may be 1 of 2 that I can think of that I have.  This CD is worth it just for the Lyn Murray Singers.  The only CD’s or LP’s by them that Amazon offers is this one, and the original 4-disc 78 RPM set from 1942 (used) and a copy of Finian’s Rainbow that they did in 1947.

I give this CD :

****

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July 24, 2022

# 8

Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Joy To The World
2002

(Originally released 1970 on Columbia Masterworks)

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© 2002 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. / Originally released 1970, (P)1977, 1980, 2002 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. / Manufactured by Sony Music Entertainment Inc. / “Legacy”, and “SONY CLASSICAL” Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm Off. Marca Registrada. / This package consists of previously released material.

Genre : Choral

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is one of America’s longest standing choirs, having been in existence for over 150 years.  Now named The Tabernacle Choir At Temple Square, the choir was formed in 1847 in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah.  (For blog references, they shall be referred to as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir).

This CD is a re-issue of an album originally recorded in 1969 and released in 1970 as Joy To The World.  The original LP included 12 songs and the CD re-issue contains 3 bonus tracks.  The title is unchanged, but the cover artwork has changed.  The original cover shows the gilded angel on top of the steeple of the Tabernacle surrounded by a dark background.

The CD insert contains good information.  It lists the songs by track title, length of song, writer’s credit, and recording dates.  It includes Orchestra, Organist, and Conductor.  The bonus tracks come with the same detailed information.  Also, much information about engineers, production, etc.  Also included are the dates and release numbers for all the re-releases.  I like it when you get solid information about the recordings, so that is a bonus here.

As stated earlier, this album was recorded in 1969 at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake, Utah.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs a Christmas concert every year at the Tabernacle in addition to over 70 concerts a year all around the world.  They also have one of the longest, continuous radio programs in the country.

This release features Richard P. Condie conducting the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble & Percussion with Dr. Alexander Schreiner playing the massive, 11,623 pipes, pipe organ.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir averages 360 members.

The CD starts out with a grandiose recital of the title track, Joy To The World.

Track 2 features The First Noel, which starts out quietly, building much louder as the song progresses.

Deck The Halls starts with a snare drum intro, (reminiscent of The Little Drummer Boy), with a few, light female voices that build into a full chorus.

Carol Of The Bells is a perfect hymn for the Tabernacle choir.  The quiet undertones that define the song are represented here with bells and soft voices that build into a crescendo and then quietly start over again.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel starts with the male voices delivering a haunting request to come and rejoice while the female voices join in until the full choir is involved.  The carol builds and builds until it is fully engulfed in a shouting invitation to Come, Come, Rejoice!  A wonderful carol.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s reputation has always been highly regarded and that’s due to their long-standing relationship with the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble, Percussion & Orchestra, conductors Eugene Ormandy and Richard P. Condie.

On most songs, Richard P. Condie directs the orchestra and choir in what starts out as a soft introduction, most songs building into a full orchestra and choir that ends with all voices shouting their invitations to come celebrate.

All songs featured on the original LP are Christian hymns, except for number 6, We Wish You A Merry Christmas.  The songs starts out with full orchestration, then abruptly ends while female voices start a cappella followed by the orchestra that slowly comes in to finish the song in typical Philadelphia Brass style.

The rest of the CD, like most of the songs throughout, features large orchestral beginnings with full choir support.

The final song of the original LP is Silent Night.  This iconic Christmas hymn starts quietly with bells and slow, soft harmonies.  It stays this way all the way through with voices as the predominant sound heard.  Orchestrations are there, but more subtle and complimentary to the voices that drift softly through the song.

This CD re-issue includes 3 bonus tracks.  The first two, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song, are from their 1977 Christmas LP, White Christmas.  Eugene Ormandy does an excellent job of leading the Philadelphia Orchestra through mellow renditions of both selections.  The orchestrations on these bonus tracks is a little different because it does not feature the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble, and so the string section is more prevalent.

The final cut on the CD is Hallelujah Chorus from “Messiah”, by George Frederic Handel.  As in most arrangements of the piece, the sound is big!  Jerold Ottley directs the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from 1980.  The different voices are layered in opposing harmonies and the 11,623 pipes of the Tabernacle organ are front and center.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has released many Christmas albums throughout their existence, starting in 1957.  (Look for more Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas CDs in this blogs future).  It is always good to have the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in your Christmas collection.  As far as choral music goes, no organization has produced more Christmas albums in America than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and only in England perhaps, would you find choirs older than 150 years.  That being said, as I compare this to other Tabernacle Choir Christmas CDs I have, the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble & Percussion adds more instrumentation than just a regular orchestra might, so the sound is bigger.  Other Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas CDs are usually performed over symphonies, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, so the music is less grandiose.  They have probably made more Christmas albums with the Philadelphia Orchestra than any other orchestra.

This is a good Mormon Tabernacle Christmas CD to have.  I like the structure of the songs and the choir does an excellent job of taking you through all the emotions that a merry Christmas can evoke.

I like to listen to various artists when I listen to Christmas music, and I probably wouldn’t put this on and listen to it from start to finish, but it is an excellent CD to mix in with other carols and traditional songs.  If you like the old choirs of England, you will probably enjoy this as much.

I give this CD :

*** ½ *

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July 15, 2022

# 1

Harry Simeone Chorale
The Little Drummer Boy
1988

(Originally released 1959 as Sing We Now Of Christmas on 20th Fox)

2. Back

(P)©1978 PolyGram Records, Inc.
Manufactured and Marketed by PolyGram Records, Inc.

# 1 – 1964 – Billboard Christmas

Genre : Choral

Harry Simeone was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1910.  Aspiring to be a concert pianist, and after attending Juilliard, his first big job came as an arranger for Fred Waring.  Later on, he and his wife moved to Hollywood and Harry started producing movie music for Paramount Pictures, and later radio and TV for NBC.

In 1958, Harry Simeone was approached by Twentieth-Century Fox Records to record a Christmas album.  This is THAT album. 

Originally released as a two record set, under the title “Sing We Now Of Christmas / Merry Christmas Carols With Organ & Chimes” in 1959, this album has been re-released many times throughout the years; 1959 (as a single disc LP), 1963, 1966, 1973, 1978, 1981 and 1988.  All of the re-releases feature only the first LP of the two record set, retaining the original track order.

Starting with the first reissue in 1963, the title was changed to “The Little Drummer Boy / A Christmas Festival”.  The cover art on the CD version first appeared on an LP in 1978, and the album first appeared on CD in 1988, the year of this copy.  I also have original copies of the LPs from 1959 and 1963.

The Harry Simeone Chorale released albums of popular songs, Broadway tunes and Sacred songs as well as Christmas records.  This is the first of their Christmas releases.  They released 5 Christmas albums between 1959 and 1980.  (I know I have the one from 1963, The Wonderful Songs Of Christmas.  Look for it sometime later in this blog’s future).

This album is composed primarily of medleys.  7 of the 10 tracks are medleys.  The orchestrations are beautiful, lush.  Full symphony.  The Harry Simeone Chorale comprises 25 adult mixed chorus singers featuring great spoken parts by an unknown baritone and an unknown soprano.  I’ve looked at the artwork on my CD, and the LPs I have, and there is no information as to who the soloists are.

I like the traditional approach of the orchestral arrangements and the voice arrangements as well.  As choral groups go, The Harry Simeone Chorale is one of the great ones, the kind of choral group that set the standard for future choral groups to follow.

The CD’s track order is exactly as the original LP release, which I love.  When I try to collect CD’s to add to my collection, it’s always a bonus to get the original art work, and the original track order.  The CD’s artwork contains a single fold over with the track listing on the left side and a small endorsement on the right.

So, we start off with the title track Sing We Now Of Christmas, as the first song of a 5 song medley.  I don’t think the songs in the medleys are recorded in one recording session.  They have their own start and finish.  So, songs of about 1 to 1 ½ minutes, pushed together to make the medley.  Not a negative here.  Everything blends together very well.  The original LP, and this CD, contain 31 beautiful choral hymns familiar to most people. 

The second track, a great hand-clapping ‘revival’ arrangement, Go Tell It On The Mountain is a stand out track featuring the lead baritone.

As I stated earlier, most of the productions are BIG.  25 male and female voices tracking over the top of big, grandiose Symphonic arrangements.  Going by his bios I’ve read, I think Harry Simeone would have done the musical arrangements himself in addition to the choral arrangements.

Tracks 3, 4 and 5 are all medleys of Christian hymns.

Track 6, O’Holy Night has always been one of my favorite Christmas hymns.  A large vocal introduction followed by a fantastic rendition by our featured soprano while an orchestra that features brass horns that comes in for the big finish.

The 7th track, is The Little Drummer Boy.  With the Classic arrangement, heard for the first time here, the song The Little Drummer Boy went on to make this LP a landmark album during the Classic Christmas music era.  The song is mainly a cappella with some bells for accent.

A classic in all terms, so great a song that Rankin / Bass made a TV show of it in 1968 that still plays every year at Christmas.  The Little Drummer Boy, written by Katherine K. Davis and Henri Onorati with additional writing credit to Harry Simeone, was released as a single in 1958 with Die Lorelei as the B-side, a song from the 2nd disc included in the original LP, and reached # 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 .  The Little Drummer Boy saw single releases every year throughout the 60’s, reaching as high as number 1 from 1964 – 1968.

Another of my favorites, also an a cappella masterpiece, Rise Up Shepherds, is part of a medley on track 8, featuring a wonderful baritone voice that appears throughout the album.  I wish I knew who it was, but I haven’t found any information on any of the featured vocalists.

The ninth track, (also a medley), starts with Ding Dong (Merrily On High) which itself starts with a huge arrangement of brass, then an introduction by our featured baritone again, and a fantastic choral of voices.

The Album finishes with a 3 song medley, Silent Night / Adeste Fidelis / A Christmas Greeting which presents a great finish.  Silent Night features a wonderful vocal by the lead soprano, then glides into an a cappella rendition of Adeste Fideles.  Absolutely beautiful.  The last of the 3 song medley features a song called A Christmas Greeting.  A 50 second Christmas wish from The Harry Simeone Chorale.

There is not a bad selection on this album.  I can highly recommend it into your Christmas collection.  First, in 1959, it set the standard for large choral Christmas arrangements.  Second, it presents 31 wonderful choral hymns that everyone will be familiar with.  And third, there is not a bad song on here.

I give this CD :

*****

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