The Christmas carol has its origins in the Middle Ages but it has since embraced a wide variety of musical backgrounds. In this album, religious...

The Christmas carol has its origins in the Middle Ages but it has since embraced a wide variety of musical backgrounds. In this album, religious sentiment is set in many different contexts – from the mystery plays to an African American spiritual, from its origins in Gregorian Chant and 16th-century secular dance to traditional examples rooted in poetry. Some of the most famous and beautiful examples are heard alongside energizing contemporary carols to present a tapestry of the genre across the centuries.

CONTENTS:

• trad.: Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day
• Holst: In the Bleak Mid-winter (Cranham)
• Niles: I wonder as I wander
• Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
• trad.: Sans Day Carol
• Ord: Adam lay ybounden
• trad.: Go tell it on the mountain
• Whitacre: Lux aurumque
• Vaughan Williams: Five English Folksongs
• Beamish: In the stillness
• trad.: Ding dong! merrily on high
• trad.: A Virgin most pure
• Willan: Hodie Christus natus est
• trad.: Coventry Carol
• Biebl: Ave Maria
• trad.: My Dancing Day (Arr. B. Chilcott for Choir)
• Gruber: Silent Night
• trad.: The First Nowell

REVIEW:

The Edison Singers is a Canadian mixed adult choir (7-5-6-6 are listed for this album) founded in Ontario by Noel Edison in 2018. Their singing is well balanced, with commendable precision and clear delivery of the texts. This was recorded in the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph, Ontario. The sound has the spacious ambiance you would expect from such a building. Here is a satisfying Christmas album with a different touch.

-- American Record Guide