There are so many approaches to Christmas records. In this one
we are treated to a traditional 1950s Christmas. Agreed some of
the material is later but the style is spot-on for the New Elizabethans.
It perhaps represents what that generation of parents would want
for their children – which is fair enough.
It is packaged exclusively
for children but does it really hit that mark when they play
or hear the disc? I doubt it. It is more for nostalgic British
adults in their forties-plus than for today’s children. Or maybe
I know too little about children or am too keen to generalise.
Either way can we really say that today’s child will respond
enthusiastically to this?
Aside from miscalculated
target audience issues this is a lovely collection mixing familiar
and unfamiliar. Four dances from Nutcracker are perfectly
weighed, balanced and recorded to catch the Christmas frost
and glisten. Rutter’s Nativity Carol is less familiar
but very suitable to this company. All the hymns are done a
million miles from anything pop-orientated –except for the Britten.
Adult choirs are
favoured over child singers and there’s no harm to that at all.
A fine treble is used for Once in Royal David’s City
– one can almost see the condensation rising from these spring-heel
voices. The players of Prince of Wales Brass are challenged
and rise to the test for an arrangement of Walking in the
Air and two other tracks that conjure images of outdoor
band medleys and falling snow; there are even sleigh bells.
Enunciation in the
singing is plain and BBC clear – if I can also say that about
Stille Nacht allocated in the original German to Ex Cathedra
Band Jeffrey Skidmore and an unnamed and equally discreet guitarist.
Martin Neary and Winchester Cathedral Choir have three tracks
which are mostly sedate-cum-sleepy; it’s one of the few areas
of misfire although The Holly and the Ivy works rather
well.
Drawing on the many
recordings Tjeknavorian made for ASV we also hear the cheery
and even satirical Troika from Lt Kije. Things
end well with O Come, All Ye Faithful from Timothy Prosser
at Emmanuel College where a sense of pressing forward is balanced
with the seasonal pacing. Apart from in the orchestral items
there’s little of the secular or even pagan Christmas. This
is very much a Happy Christmas rather than a Merry
Xmas.
A traditional 1950s-style
Christmas collection but I wonder how many children will respond
to this if bought for them to play in their rooms. I hope it
is many more than I expect. I suspect mums and dads will soon
be borrowing it back.
Rob Barnett
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