Mormon Tabernacle Choir – Joy To The World

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, with 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 song 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 on 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, so the string section is more prevalent.

The final cut on the CD is Hallelujah Chorus from “Messiah”, by George Frideric 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 have 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 *