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Musica Sacra's Welcome Yule!: English Christmas Carols and Motets speaks to my heart. This excellent and elegant group sings like angels; for lovers of classical choral singing, this is heaven on earth.

Welcome Yule! delivers big time on song selection, presentation length (over an hour of music!), and professional execution. The 16-page liner notes booklet is big, too, providing all lyrics and some photos. About 40% of the CD (24 minutes) is the complete presentation of Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols. For those who enjoy classical stylings, but yearn for more familiar holiday tunes, Musica Sacra also sweetly scores with traditional pieces such as In the Bleak Midwinter and Coventry Carol. I particularly enjoyed the delightfully different rhythms of Deck the Halls (arranged in 7/8 time). The pieces are largely delivered a cappella; organist Terry Halco and harpist Jane Rupert also contribute.

Here is exquisite holiday music of the classical sort. The delivery is clean and direct, yet warmly emotive. Open your heart to Musica Sacra's Welcome Yule! and be amazed.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the liner notes:

Mary Beekman, Artistic Director

Recorded at the Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Soprano:
Elizabeth Blevins
Myfanwy Callahan
Anne Chalmers
Frances Gratz
Angharad Laing
Jennifer McLean
Sarah Meadow
Elana M. Messer
Beth Spaulding
Kiera Wilhelm

Alto:
Lynn Courtney
Coventry Edwards-Pitt
Margaret Gianquinto
Jennifer Horne
Susan Kennedy
Sarah Matthews
Lisa Plumley
Kate Raisz
Marion Severynse

Tenor:
Kimball Halsey
David Halstead
Charles Kwon
Ian Mulvany
Dan Philips
Chandler Rosenberger

Bass:
Steven Bartek
Adam Bell
Peter Bloser
Neil Goldstein
Terry Halco
Meir Mechtinger
Matthew C. Weinzierl

Jane Rupert, Harp
Terry Halco, Organ

From the artist's Website:

From a choral repertoire spanning five centuries, Musica Sacra performs works both familiar and rare, with a crisp passion that awakens the listener to yearnings and joys, sorrows and delights--all that defines and inspires the best in human lives.

Since 1959, Musica Sacra has been performing choral music with the highest standards of musical excellence and a sound that has been called "breathtaking," "gifted," and "uncommonly fresh and direct." Director Mary Beekman, now in her 27th season, continues to thrill Musica Sacra's singers and audiences with a varied and engaging repertoire.

Musica Sacra

Welcome Yule!: English Christmas Carols and Motets

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Track List