Customer Reviews

Songs of Angels - Christmas Hymns and Carols

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Growing up in the sixties, I remember Christmas as a time when the family came together and ate, laughed, enjoyed the spirituality of the holiday, exchanged gifts and listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's album "The Holly and the Ivy". As an adult, I had perpetually been on a quest to locate a CD copy of said album, with no success. Over the course of the past few years, I have wound up with a collection of *HORRIBLE* Christmas music (Christmas jazz, Christmas rock, etc.); all the while knowing in my heart that perfection was out there just waiting to be found. While at work late one night, I was browsing through the Amazon.com music section and came across Robert Shaw. After reading the other reviews here, I figured that $20.00 or so wasn't too much to spend in my search of the "perfect" Christmas album.

There are not enough superlatives to describe this album. It is everything that I remember "The Holly and the Ivy" was and more! I would describe the music here as "serious" Christmas music, but that does The Songs of Angels a disservice. As another reviewer stated below, The Songs of Angels truly sounds like the "voice of God himself". The voices are phenomenal. The arrangement is exquisite. The song selections are perfect. This is what I had been searching for.

If there were more than five stars available for an Amazon.com review, I would give them here. If you are looking for the perfect Christmas album, your search is over.

The Robert Shaw Chamber singers perform this collection of Christmas hymns and carols without instrumental accompaniment. The chorus is absolutely superb. The soloists are what you could expect from a good Church `Messiah.'

As a strict Christmas traditionalist, I'm happy to say that none of the top ten Christmas carols as chosen by AOL subscribers made it onto this recording, e.g. 'All I Want for Christmas' - Mariah Carey, 'White Christmas' - Bing Crosby, 'The Christmas Song' - Nat King Cole, '8 Days of Christmas' - Destiny's Child, 'Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays' - *NSYNC, 'Happy Christmas' - John Lennon, 'Little Drummer Boy' - Bing Crosby & David Bowie, 'Where Are You Christmas' - Faith Hill, 'Oh Holy Night' - Nat King Cole, and 'Blue Christmas' - Elvis Presley.

Well, `Oh Holy Night' would have been okay.

"Fum, Fum, Fum," a traditional Catalan carol is probably the jolliest, most secular song on this recording, followed closely by "Good King Wenceslas." I love the part where the jolly bass king sings, "Bring me bread and bring me wine, etc." Some children might be confused when the same bass shows up for a few verses of "We Three Kings of Orient Are." They might ask you whether Good King Wenceslas was one of the three kings who followed the star to Bethlehem.

You may assure them that he was not.

Since many these songs are medieval in origin, they reference the Crucifixion as well as the Birth---a reminder of the solemnity of the season.

Also included is a traditional Kentucky Mountain Ballad, "The Cherry Tree Carol" where Joseph finally gets to sing a line: "Let the father of thy baby gather cherries for thee!"

When the cherry bough bends down and drops its fruit into Mary's lap, Joseph falls silent for the rest of the Christmas repertoire (as far as I can tell).

If you are a Christmas traditionalist like me, I think you'll enjoy playing this recording over and over again during the Holiday season.

When I was a kid, we used to listen to this album every Christmas (on vinyl). We often contrasted it with a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas album we also had, the Mormons good for rousing anthems, Robert Shaw for more intimate and moving and, I think, more beautiful evocations of the Spirit of Christmas.

What continues to amaze me, and other reviewers have noted this, is the precision of the voices, of the diction, and the discipline of the dynamics. No voice standing out unless called for, all of them melding seamlessly into something so gorgeous I keep buying a copy each Christmas to give as a gift since it is my most precious thing to give (to those who love real choral singing, anyway).

I listen to it, not as background "mood" music as if in a department store, but almost reverently, with headphones on and with complete concentration. It just takes me away.

This is the best collection of traditional Christmas music I have ever heard. Buy this just for the last song alone: In the Bleak Midwinter. The first time I heard it, it stopped my heart. The beautiful words of Christina Rossetti, the arrangement and harmonies...it sounded like God to me. In all of his mercy, love and forgiveness, you'll hear God himself in this song.

When I bought this album, I was looking for a classic Christmas album for a small ensemble. This fits the bill admirably. The music, arrangements and performers are all of the same caliber as Shaw's other recordings (such as The Many Moods of Christmas) but here we have the intimacy of a small ensemble, much more fitting to the music than the massive forces of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus.

The arrangements are by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw, dating from the 1950's. We also have a number of magnificent solo voices, which are absent from the Robert Russel Bennet arrangements. The soloists are superb.

If I had to pick a single Christmas album to see me through the holidays, it would be a difficult choice, but this would certainly be on my short list.

Robert Shaw, a legend in choral music, put together many Christmas CDs over the course of his career, but this is my favorite by far. Two specific aspects -- the tonal quality of the voices and the arrangements, make these recordings simply wonderful. Also, many of the other CDs use full orchestra which, though nice, in my opinion distracts the listener from Shaw's stunning choral arrangements and conducting, which was always his stronger side.

The arrangements alone would be worth the price of the disc. O Come O Come Emmanuel aches with desire for salvation & the Boar's Head Carol is a rousing good time, with booming basses and baritones. And these voices -- only Shaw can match voices like this. The level of unity and harmony isn't something that can be described and won't be seen again in the choral world for some time. Never treacley or cute like many 50's/60's pop carol recordings, the entire CD inspires and is really a wonderful way to get into the spirit of the holiday.

A fluid and seamless piece of heaven that transcends all classical and holiday music. This is an OUTSTANDING non-traditional Holiday CD!!! Many voices come together as one in these enchanting verses sung in languages other than English. It is just enough language mix to appease and intrigue the soul but not too much so that the listener does not understand the lyrics. For example, the English verse is sung then a verse in German and then back to English. Emmanuel is written this way. Other languages include French (Angels we Have Heard on High) and even Catalan which is a dialect of Spain.

Several of the songs were not traditional Holiday songs (at least for my generation), yet they were intriguing to learn and now I feel I know them just like the traditional ones. This CD offers a healthy mix of traditional and non-traditional songs on this CD.

If you can picture the most beautiful sounds you have ever heard you can come close to the joy this CD will bring you. It is February and I can't stop listening to it. You will not regret purchasing itthe only regret you may have is not buying all of Robert Shaw's holiday CDs.

I am writing this review to share the joy with you!

The Robert Shaw chorale of the '50s and early '60s is the absolute best of the accapella choirs to this day. The music is exquisite and moving. Why? Because Shaw had a gift for selecting voices that blended seamlessly (at times they almost sound like one voice),a knack for arranging and choosing arrangements that allowed the best to emerge from a small group of voices, a wonderful intuitive sense of dynamics, and a way to allow joy to spring forth in each of the singer's voices. To have all of the gifts that Shaw had and to be able to use them in such a melodious, sometimes robust, sometimes gentle, and always reverential way is remarkable in and of it's self. This is what I measure all other small ensambles against! And no one even comes close!!! I also should add that the selection of songs is very beautiful. Mostly traditional songs that are familiar, with a few delightful surprises thrown into the mix. If lovely, unadorned, and unaccompanied voices is what you enjoy, then this is it. This is what you've been waiting for.

On a particularly bleak commute one Chicago winter morning I tuned into my local classical radio station and arrived there mid-song. Had I not acted in this way on this day at this time, I would have missed out on one of the most superlative, original and inspired reditions of "We Three Kings" ever recorded. While this CD contains certainly the best compilation of seasonal music I have found, it stands up to music of any season or genre on its own merits. Needless to say, for the duration of that song it didn't matter what the weather conditions were outside my car at that moment....I was, without a doubt, listening to the voices of angels. Get this CD....you won't be sorry.

If you only have one Christmas CD, this should be it. Disciplined voices with an ethereal quality in the sopranos. Carols and hymns from many nations and many times. A winner!