Music for the Season
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Christmas draws ever nearer, and we are pleased to bring you ever more wonderful music for the season, from Schutz and Alessandro Scarlatti to Bach and Vaughan Williams.
Louis Devos conducts the Schola Cantorum Buexelliensis, with baritone Kurt Widmer as the Evangelist as we bring you “The Christmas Story” (Weinachtshistorie, c. 1670) by Heinrich Schütz. The work is a series of set choral pieces linked by the Evangelist’s narrative, text derived from the gospels according to Matthew and Luke, that takes us from the census decree of Augustus through Jesus’ birth, to the flight to Egypt and the return to Nazareth, concluding with a joyous choral thanks to and praise of God.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Christmas cantata, “Hodie” (This Day), begins with jubilant brass fanfares and ends with triumphant pealing bells, chorus, and orchestra. Yet, according to the recording’s notes, "no other [work] is so serene in outlook, so other-worldly... because this is what the score conveys." The Bach Choir, the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, mezzo Dame Janet Baker, tenor Richard Lewis, and baritone John Shirley-Quirk join the London Symphony Orchestra under David Willcocks in this inspired and inspiring recording. Listen and rejoice.
Emanuel Ax performs Two Rhapsodies, Opus 79, by Brahms, before we wind down with soprano Nancy Argenta and the Chandos Baroque Players, as they bring us Alessandro Scarlatti’s “Christmas Cantata.”
Louis Devos conducts the Schola Cantorum Buexelliensis, with baritone Kurt Widmer as the Evangelist as we bring you “The Christmas Story” (Weinachtshistorie, c. 1670) by Heinrich Schütz. The work is a series of set choral pieces linked by the Evangelist’s narrative, text derived from the gospels according to Matthew and Luke, that takes us from the census decree of Augustus through Jesus’ birth, to the flight to Egypt and the return to Nazareth, concluding with a joyous choral thanks to and praise of God.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Christmas cantata, “Hodie” (This Day), begins with jubilant brass fanfares and ends with triumphant pealing bells, chorus, and orchestra. Yet, according to the recording’s notes, "no other [work] is so serene in outlook, so other-worldly... because this is what the score conveys." The Bach Choir, the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, mezzo Dame Janet Baker, tenor Richard Lewis, and baritone John Shirley-Quirk join the London Symphony Orchestra under David Willcocks in this inspired and inspiring recording. Listen and rejoice.
Emanuel Ax performs Two Rhapsodies, Opus 79, by Brahms, before we wind down with soprano Nancy Argenta and the Chandos Baroque Players, as they bring us Alessandro Scarlatti’s “Christmas Cantata.”
