Review and More

Our Review

Sweet! Here is another gem under the "Maggie's Music" label (www.maggiesmusic.com). Ensemble Galilei's A Winter's Night is an offering from the Celtic/folk chamber music genre; this is beautifully-crafted instrumental music for the holiday season. The ensemble consists of six accomplished women who specialize in Celtic/early music and original compositions. Their tools are largely strings and pipes, and the end product is remarkable.

A Winter's Night presents 16 tracks of Celtic carols, early music dance tunes, two new creations, and timeless Christmas classics. I recognized perhaps one-third of these pieces; everyone will be most familiar with the two wonderful carol medleys (O Come Emmanuel/What Child Is This and The First Nowell/Joy to the World/Joy to the World Jig). The tone is gentle and passionate, in a regal sort of way. This is a chamber orchestra with Celtic flair, and the feel is classical with a folksy edge. Recorded in concert at the historic Great Hall of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, the production values are outstanding, although you can occasionally hear ambient sounds in the recording's hushed moments.

This gracious music would provide the perfect backdrop for your intimate holiday gathering, sipping wine with a loved one beside a roaring fire, or just on your own, contemplating holiday memories on a cold December evening. I like the entire album, but especially enjoyed the exquisite interplay of deep viols and brighter fiddles/harp on C.A. Surrick's own Of Darkness and Light. The traditional carol medleys also pump fresh life into the old, familiar tunes. Of course, those cheerful, driving jigs may force your feet into uncontrollable toe-tapping! And the soulful flute on Easter Snow is mighty fine.

Ensemble Galilei's A Winter's Night is an outstanding instrumental album for the holidays. Why not get jiggy with it?

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2006)

More

From the liner notes:

Ensemble Galilei:
Liz Knowles: fiddle, viola
Deborah Nuse: Scottish small pipes, fiddle
Sue Richards: Celtic harp
Carolyn Anderson Surrick: viols
Sarah Weiner: oboe, tin whistle, recorder
with Kieran O'Hare: Uilleann Pipes, flutes, low whistles & tin whistles

Celebrate the holidays, the winter solstice, traditional music, and all the best things about Christmas. From conservatory rehearsal rooms to all night sessions at Irish pubs, a montage of Early Music, Celtic, and traditional tunes blend and a glorious new sound is born. With crackling energy and brilliant performances Ensemble Galilei delivers a virtuosic display of lush sounds and joyous music-making for the Holiday season in a wondrous mix of timeless Christmas classics, Celtic carols from Galicia, Spain, and the Isles of Scotland and Ireland, Medieval and Renaissance dance tunes, and original compositions to celebrate the winter solstice.

Ensemble Galilei

A Winter's Night

Artist link

Track List