From james.liu@yale.edu (James C.S. Liu) Organization Yale University Center for Medical Informatics Date Thu, 19 Dec 1996 22:33:09 -0500 Newsgroups rec.music.classical.recordings Message-ID <james.liu-1912962233090001@remote1-line35.cis.yale.edu>
WAYLTL? = What Are You Listening To, Lately? Erato 4509-92874-2: An American Christmas: Carols, hymns, and spirituals, 1770-1870. Boston Camerata, Schola Cantorum of Boston, Brown University Chorus, Joel Cohen cond. Bias warning: I know and have worked with two of the singers on the Erato disc, and admire their work greatly, so that one may be a bit biased. "'Christmas music is pretty hard to take.' This desperate thought tends to arrive in the minds of some North American residents shortly before December 24. This sentiment occurs after the yearly, omnipresent onslaught of 'standard' carols -- their banality, the vacuity of their glitzy arrangements -- has nearly succeeded in turning many otherwise kind and generous people into Scrooge forever." The above is stolen from Joel Cohen's liner notes, with apologies to Mr. Cohen, who has been known to at least prowl rec.music.early on occasion. Those words certainly capture my feelings about Christmas music to a tee. This year, I tried to counter this by getting some periodist accounts of Christmas music. The hope was that by hearing rarely heard pieces, original versions of classics, and interesting alternate versions of the standards (I guess these are some of the period instrument movement's ultimate goals), I might be able to remove a layer of Christmas jade.[snip]
Watching Ken Burns's _Civil War_, singing American spirituals, and other things like that have made me a sucker for certain kinds of traditional American tunes, like old Southern folk songs and gap-note Southern-style harmony. There's more than enough of this and much more in Joel Cohen's survey of lesser-known American music. The CD is organized along basic themes (Advent, Immaculate Conception, Jesus as Bridegroom -- this only seemed tangentially related to Christmas proper, a Coventry variant called "Slow Traveler," the rejoicing of the shepherds, and Jesus, the Light of the World. Tunes come from New England, the deep South, Shaker spirituals, and European-inflected folk songs, along Joy to the World and alternate lyrics to Adeste Fideles and Auld Lang Syne. The music is eerily beautiful in that bittersweet folk way, and I've been listening to much of it obsessively. Highlights include a gorgeous solo strophic tune, "The Heavenly Courtier," a hypnotic erotic Bridegroom spiritual, a few folksy close harmony tunes, and Jesus, the Light of the World (alternate tune for Hark, the Herald Angels Sing). The singing is both beautiful for hearing and insightful for listening, and even in the old warhorses, they play with an exuberance that left me wanting to sing out loud in the office. (Fortunately, I resisted the temptation, but I think it's time to try to talk my conductor into tracking down some of this stuff ...) This is a disc to warm the coldest American Scrooge's heart, and will hold a proud place in my Christmas collection. Submitted with the customary IMHO's, YMMV's, and all the rest of that. Apologies again to Mr. Cohen, if he's reading, for stealing his text and absurdly oversimplifying his fascinating liner notes and scholarship. Season's greetings. -- -- /James C.S. Liu "He puts the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional.'" james.liu@yale.edu "He is depriving a village somewhere of New Haven, Connecticut an idiot." -- seen in performance reviews My opinions have nothing to do with my employer!