Customer Reviews

The Carol Album: Seven Centuries of Christmas Music

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To my taste, this is the way to do the vast musical repertoire of Christmas. Andrew Parrott's detailed, deep and textured approach presents a something new and satisfying with each listen.

Initially, I was dismayed at the near-inaudible beginning of the first cut, "Veni, Veni, Emmanuel"...until I interpreted the slowly rising volume as the plainsong of an approaching band of medieval choristers, which is certainly a way in which it was heard.

Truly, a wonderful trip through seven centuries!

If this very stylish album does not have something that will please you, you are just too hard to please. With carols spanning seven centuries, in French, German, and English, from the old world and the new, this is a comprehensive survey of the Christmas carol.

The performances are not arranged chronologically, but rather in contrasting and complimentary order, alternating unaccompanied with accompanied, vocal with instrumental. Both the vocal and instrumental ensembles have a range of styles and sonorities. Compare, for example, the brash open sound of "The Babe of Bethlehem" and "Glory to God on High" with the restrained pure sound of "This endere nyghth" or the full sound of "Christum wir sollen loben schon."

The booklet contains notes and texts as well as a list of players, but do not identify the various soloists.

If you've never strayed into the Early Music racks, start here! And if you have 30" of Christmas CDs in your collection and half of them are Early Music and traditional, you're still going to love this! No muddy, pretentious, over-orchestrated stuff here. Just period instruments or fresh voices, and some gentle musical jokes. (The little-sung and wonderfully rhythmic "March of the Kings" instrumental starts out barely audible in the distance with the jingle of harness and bells, grows louder, then fades in the distance as though the magi and their magnificent procession had passed on. And "Il est ne', le divin enfant", which mentions the reedy voice of the musette, is played on one.)

I have been listening to this album for almost 10 years. I wore out my tape copy from constantly studying to it in college and had to replace it with a CD. It is wonderful all year, not just at Christmas. Everytime I play it someone always requests a copy. Everyone is correct about the first track being nearly inaudible at first, but the rest is so good that it is just a minor annoyance. This album has all the old favorites the way they were originally heard and the way the composer intended them to sound. Absolutely not commercialized.

I love this album! I love Medieval and Renaissance carols. In my family, we call them "squeakers and groaners". This collection really squeaks and groans. It also provides a lyric sheet- essential for memorizing carols in Latin and Old English!

This is one of my favorite collection of carols. The variety of the music and level of performance combine to make this a must-have CD. It gives an idea of how old the celebration of Christmas is and provides relief from the familiar, popular Christmas songs. Of special interest is the the original version of "Stille Nacht."

What a joy to hear real carols sung like . . . real carols. This is without doubt my favorite Christmas album, and amongst the best music I own. It's also wonderful to crank up the volume and bellow along, especially God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. (I'm glad to know track 1 isn't damaged . . . it's a little offputting to start off inaudibly).

This would be essential if only for the fact that it is completely unlike anything you will hear in malls, elevators, airports, or on the radio during the holidays. There is no pop crassness, no overblown over-orchestrated sentiment. It's just very simple and very beautiful. It restores some of the magic to the holidays that commercialism has destroyed.

Not only is this my own favourite, but so many friends have fallen in love with it hearing me playing it over the Christmas season, that I have frequently bought it as a (much appreciated!) Christmas gift. A wonderfully diverse mix of earlier Christmas music, performed with freshness and vigour. If I could only have one album of Christmas music in my collection, this would be it. (Messiah doesn't really count does it? It's not officially Christmas music!!)

I've really enjoyed the CD. All songs are set very authentically; i.e. - Silent Night is sung by two male vocals with choir and organ as backup, much the same way it was likely sung the first Christmas Eve it was written.

The only issue I have with the CD is the first song is recorded VERY, VERY, quietly such that I can't even hear it with my normal volume setting. However, the length and quality of the rest of the CD more than compensates: 62 minutes with 24 songs.