Noel Edison and his fine professional choir have already made
some excellent recordings for Naxos and here now is a splendid
collection of Christmas pieces.
The chosen programme
is well balanced between tried and trusted favourites such as
In the Bleak Midwinter, The Linden Tree Carol
and Silent Night – I’m not sure whose harmonies are used
in the latter – and less familiar fare. A brace of popular Christmas
hymns is included and Noel Edison has furnished effective descants
to both. Indeed, his descant for O Come All Ye Faithful
is the best I’ve heard since the deservedly popular version
by Sir David Willcocks. In both this hymn and Hark the Herald
Angels Sing Edison adds majestic organ harmonies for
the concluding verses as well.
It’s good – and
appropriate – that this crack Canadian choir gives us some music
from their own country. The Huron Carol was written in
about 1641and is one of the first known examples of North American
Christmas music. The present arrangement is very nice and it’s
beautifully sung. The inclusion of The Three Kings by
Healey Willan (1880-1968) is even more appropriate: though Willan
was English by birth he spent most of his working life presiding
over the music of the very church in which this recording was
made. I hadn’t heard this particular piece of his before but
I found it to be most enjoyable, exhibiting Willan’s habitual
sensitivity in his writing for voices.
Another welcome
discovery for me was Honegger’s Laudate Dominum. This
is a festive piece, tuneful and jolly. It builds to an exuberant
‘Amen’ underpinned by full organ.
Much better known
is the music that forms the centre of gravity of the programme,
Poulenc’s wondrous Christmas Motets. These masterful settings
are beautifully performed here. The singers capture just the
right note of sensuousness in ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ - my own
favourite in the set. They also convey the mystery of ‘Videntes
Stellam’ very well while the concluding ‘Hodie Christus Natus
est’ is buoyant but splendidly controlled. In this last piece,
especially, I was struck by the excellent balance of the choir,
which allows Poulenc’s piquant harmonies to register amid the
rejoicing of the setting.
I was slightly disappointed
with the performance of Poston’s Jesus Christ the Apple
Tree. There’s nothing wrong with the singing but Noel
Edison takes it too slowly, I feel, and rather over-interprets
the piece. It’s rare that one finds a Christmas disc that doesn’t
contain a setting by John Rutter. Here the choice falls upon
What Sweeter Music. This carol, with it’s lovely
melody, winning even by Rutter’s standards, is one of his best
Christmas pieces and Edison and his choir perform it very well
indeed.
It was an imaginative
touch to end the recital not with the obvious choice, Hark
the Herald Angels Sing, but with John Tavener’s arresting
God is with Us. The unnamed tenor soloist is terrific,
really proclaiming the message of his solo with burning conviction
and the ending, with its huge organ chords, is simply stunning.
This is a quite splendid
disc. The singing is superb throughout, the programme is imaginative
and enterprising and the performances are captured in excellent
sound. This will make an excellent Christmas present for a musical
friend. Better still, buy two copies and treat yourself too. Happy
Christmas!
John Quinn
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The Elora Festival
Singers/*Michael Bloss (organ)/Noel Edison 
