Released on The Sixteen’s award-winning own label CORO, The Wise Men an the Star includes three World Premiere recoding (by Eric Whitacre, Cecilia McDowall, and the Sixteen’s own Kim Porter).
The music, obviously pays homage to the Christmas story; but read Andew Stewart”s superb notes to appreciate the tale’s derivation from Scripture. It makes for fascinating reading.
The “journey” begins with Margaret Rizza’s O Sapentia (which also includes words from the Wisdom of Solomon), a beautiful setting of the ancient text, often radiant, and given in a simply superb performance:
Eic Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque (with Julie Cooper a remarkable pure soprano), while typical of that composer’s output, seems to go deeper than much of his music. Plus, listen to The Sixteen’s perfectly calibrated pianissimo towards the end:
Thee’s a a rather nice nod to the Divine Feminine in Bernard Rose’s Our Blessed Lady’s Lullaby, with its alterations of solo and tutti (Alexandrea Kidgell and Emilia Morton, sopranos); but it is the titular The Wise Men and the Star by Oliver Tarney that glows from within:
It is Milton’s Ode to the Morning of Christ’s Nativity that provides the words for James McCarthy’s Peaceful is the Night, the perfect companion to Away in a Manger, where rarely can this familiar carol have sounded so perfectly formed; Deck the Halls emerges in a near-perfect form, too:
For all of the appeal of the familia, it is Cecilia Macdowell’s Bightest Star that raelly impresses, a setting of light in First World War darkness:
We met Reena Ismail’s A Winter Breviary in a disc of that name by St Martin’s Voices: I mention his not only because it provides background in that post, but because an upcoming Christmas disc is indeed by St Martin’s Voices (A Babe is Born on Resoous Classics). The mix of celebration of Nature along with the use of Rāg is most appealing. The Breviay takes in Evensong, Matins, and Lauds in that order. And just listen to the sheer lift of, “The Unexpected Early Host (Lauds)”. Here’s Evensong: “We Look for You” based on Rāg Hamsadhwani.
The collection also includes pieces the should be better known: Peter Cornelius’ The Three Kings a case in point (Ben Davies is a terrific baritone soloist there).
Three premiere recordings are bunched together: Jeremy Dibble’s Dorni, Jesu! (A Lullaby). Alexandra Kidgell is again the super-clean soprano. The text is ancient, and Dibble evokes a real sense of timelessness, his harmonies poignant and congruent with the text:
Kim Porter’s Benediction is sets American interwar pot and playwright Georgia Douglas Johnson. Porter’s setting was written for The Sixteen, and is fascinating, at once recalling Renaissance polyphony but in a mid-20th-Century setting. The composer comments:
It’s a real joy to be part of this new Christmas album with The Sixteen. To hear my own piece – ‘Benediction’ – come to life in the voices of my dear friends in The Sixteen and to be singing alongside them, has been a wonderful experience. I hope this premiere recording brings listeners a sense of warmth, reflection, and celebration.
… and here, indeed, is the piece:
Then the premiere is Peter Hayward’s The Christ Child’s Lullaby, quite an extended piece, gently rocking and with wonderfully restrained “alleluias”
Ireland and Holst next. Ireland’s New Prince, New Pomp was a new piece to me, and is, like everything from this composer’s pen, magnificent (some might know The Holy Boy; but do also seek out the Piano Concerto):
Holst’ssetting of In the Bleak Midwinter is of course more familia, a warm hug of a performance here, each arc meticulously shaped:
We return to Margaret Rizza for the last official track, As Joseph was a-walking (which indeed has something of a composed gait about it). But there is a Bonus Track: Mykola Leontovich’s Carol of the Bells in a lovely, lively perfomance.
One of the most expertly perfumed Christmas discs out there, and available from Amazon here. Avaluable streaming below:
