Christmas Delights # 2

As I wrote a few days ago, I've always enjoyed the traditional Christmas music of Britain.  Today, I want to share a recording that takes in the traditions of Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Spain, Italy and more, and does it all in the way these songs would traditionally or originally have been sung.

This unique and fascinating 2-CD set is simply titled The Carol Albums: Seven Centuries of Christmas Music.  It's full of familiar and unfamiliar tunes, familiar words set to unfamiliar tunes, and unfamiliar versions of familiar tunes!  The music reaches clear back to mediaeval plainsong and forward into the nineteenth century. 

The variety is endless, and there's not a boring moment throughout the two CDs.  Boring, no, but certainly a bit provocative at times.  An example is the reconstruction of the original version of Silent Night heard in that tiny Austrian village church in 1818 -- a duet of male voices accompanied by a guitar, with a small choir joining in on the refrains.  The melody is familiar up to a point, but has a couple of clear differences from the version widely sung today.  The performance here eschews the solemnity thought appropriate nowadays, and gives the tune a waltz-like lilt entirely appropriate to its original shape.

Another example is God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which is sung here to a folk tune different from the common one we know, but which was long associated with the words.

Contributing to the variety is a wide range of original instruments appropriate to all the different time periods and countries covered, and a judicious variation in choices and numbers of voices used, with a few instrumental numbers included to leaven the mixture.

A further cause of perk-up-your-ears moments is the use, where appropriate, of period pronunciation of English texts.  This can sometimes seem far over the top, as for instance in the lusty singing of Glory to God on High which comes out as "Glawry ta Gawd ahn Highhhhnnn" with a distinct nasal twang.  At first it sounds merely comical, but it does serve to remind us that our language is a living, evolving organism in both words and manner of speaking!

The recording ends grandly, in the nineteenth century manner, with a large-scale performance for full choir and organ, of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the tune restored to its original (slightly different) form and the words restored to their original order, compared to the scrambled versions now heard.

The copy I own is a re-release from the Musical Heritage Society, which combines the contents of what were originally two separate recordings, made by EMI in 1989 and 1993.  The enclosed booklet gives detailed historic notes and complete texts of every number.

Throughout the two discs, the singers of the Taverner Consort, Choir, and Players outdo themselves in finding the necessary variety of tones and textures for such a huge range of musical styles, and Andrew Parrott's crisp direction keeps the programme moving smoothly along without haste.

I found one of the two recordings available for download from Classics Online, and the rights may well be available elsewhere too.  This is definitely worth your time and trouble to seek out, especially if you are interested in the Christmas musical traditions of times gone by in a variety of other lands.