The Living Church
December
2000
Delightful, little-known arrangements of Christmas music
abound on this new CD from St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle. Chronicling
music of the season heard throughout the last thirty years of Peter
Hallock's tenure there, several tracks are taken from a 1970 recording of
the Cathedral Choir (mixed voices), to which have been added more recently
recorded performances by the widely admired Compline Choir (men's voices).
In both ensembles the choral tone is rich, displaying precise and innately
musical singing. Happily St. Mark's Cathedral possesses just the kind of
generous acoustic which causes such music-making to soar.
Choirmasters will welcome the opportunity to hear
Hallock's own interpretations of several of his carols and arrangements,
including a splendidly simple, new arrangement of "Away in a
manger" for men's voices. Organists will enjoy two well played organ
solos on the marvelous Flentrop organ of St. Mark's by the current
organist-choirmaster, J. Melvin Butler. The disc includes everything from
unaccompanied plainsong and medieval songs to contemporary carol
arrangements accompanied creatively by handbells or strings, piano or
organ. Coupled with the luscious singing of the two choirs, this CD offers
a veritable feast of styles and textures.
Even well-known carols of the season take on new life,
as does, for instance, Gerald Near's lovely treble setting of "O
magnum mysterium" when sung by the men of the Compline Choir. The
recording concludes with the haunting 14th-century "Song of the Nuns
of Chester," sung in alternatim between Peter Hallock, countertenor,
and Janet White, soprano. Here is a mix of carols, beautifully performed,
to which anyone might happily listen throughout the Christmas season.
