Other highlights are Gjeilo’s powerful and oft-performed Northern Lights and a very engaging Sancta Maria by Havrøy and similarly memorable setting of Ave Regina Caelorum by Arnesen. The two exceptions mentioned above: a rendition of “Silent Night” with Norwegian text (“sung in most Christmas concerts in Norway”) and a beautiful arrangement (“with new Norwegian lyrics”) of Max Reger’s well-loved Maria Wiegenlied. One especially pertinent example is “O jul med din glede”, a lively, colorful song traditionally sung by children, joining hands and “walking around the Christmas tree”. But amazingly, happily, it doesn’t really matter, because as soon as you know what the songs are about, the music and the lovely sound of it confirms its inspiration and purpose. Most of the music consists of expertly written arrangements of Norwegian songs and original pieces by Norwegian composers–including Kim André Arnesen, Ola Gjeilo, Frank Havrøy–and for most listeners none of it (with two notable exceptions) will conjure familiar connections to the sounds, images, or experiences of Christmas. And listeners who enjoy choral music, Christmas or otherwise, will absolutely enjoy this, fully for the exceptional singing by a world-class women’s ensemble and for the high quality of the music.
The point is, if you’re looking to market this recording to a local or regional audience, fine but if you’re looking at a much broader universe of prospective listeners, it’s a problem, because many people likely to really enjoy this disc will not ever get the chance. And yet, we still know relatively nothing about the actual musical content.
Otherwise you have to squint (preferably in a strong light) to read the extremely eye-unfriendly type (in English and Norwegian) on the back cover that gives a general description of the program: a “tribute to the Norwegian maternal figure who each year conjures up Christmas for the children through all kinds of Christmas preparations.” Okay. The sound of Chandos' hybrid SACD is immaculate and warmly natural.If you’re good at deciphering the somewhat abstract depiction of the Madonna and child on the disc’s cover, and if you happen to know that “fryd” is a Norwegian word that means “joy” in English, you may (correctly) conclude that this is a disc of Norwegian Christmas music. Most of the pieces are a cappella, but the Harrington String Quartet, tenor saxophonist Ted Belledin, and the composer on piano assist on several tracks. The group fully lives up to its reputation as one of the very finest choral ensemble singing today. It excels in the long-breathed lyricism that's typical of most of these pieces Bruffy effectively summons a mood of spacious serenity that serves the music beautifully.
The Phoenix Chorale performs with its characteristically impeccable technique and sumptuous blend. Among the most impressive works are Northern Lights, Serenity, The Spheres, Phoenix, and Unicornis captivatur. At its best, the music has a natural, inexorable flow and is radiant and ecstatic. There is a soft-edged harmonic and melodic focus to several of these pieces, particularly The Ground and Evening Prayer, that veers toward a new age sensibility. His work resembles that of Eastern European minimalists like Arvo Pärt in its reliance largely on homophonic textures, which have the virtue of making the texts easily comprehensible. Of the three, Gjeilo is the most conservative in his harmonic language and adherence to choral conventions of earlier eras. Gjeilo falls into the category of American choral composers like Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre whose work has accessibility and originality that make it immensely popular with performers and audiences. Gjeilo uses exclusively sacred texts, set mostly in Latin, except for English translations of two texts by St. He served as composer-in-residence with the Grammy Award-winning Phoenix Chorale, which performs his music here under the leadership of Charles Bruffy. This 2012 CD includes almost all of his published works for mixed voices to date.
Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, born in 1978, received his training at Juilliard and has made New York his base of operations.