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An American Christmas projects excellence like light from the "Star in the East." Superb a cappella choral music is a treasure, and Seattle's Tudor Choir is the crown jewels. The unadorned human voice is so magnificent and pure; there is no instrumentation to provide cover from the shame of misadventure. Director Doug Fullington masterfully directs this amazing group, and the results are absolutely exquisite.

This is early American music, and it is a fascinating feast for the ears. The Tudor Choir's usual fare is Renaissance music (as reflected in the choir's earlier holiday offering, Fair with Her Firstborn, also reviewed on this site). In contrast, An American Christmas features shapenote carols, and you may well be wondering what that means. Shapenote music is a style of music notation and a related mode of singing. For our purposes, the big difference is that the singers actually "sing the notes" before singing the words. On eight of the 23 selections here, the Tudor Choir will sing "Fa, Sol, La, Mi" (the older four-shape system is sung here) before singing the actual lyrics. Since different singers are on different notes and accordingly sing different "shapenotes" at the same time, the outcome can be discordant, but quite poetic and satisfying.

The 23 tracks are largely unknown (at least the titles are; some familiar carols lurk behind unfamiliar names), but that won't dampen the audience's listening pleasure. Instead, virtually the entire album is one exceptional discovery after another. The 28-page liner notes are astounding; I do not believe that I have ever seen a better presentation of background information on any album. This pamphlet will be a most helpful adventure guide for the uninitiated.

Everything on An American Christmas is a joy. That being said, I especially loved "The Cherry Tree," which the women sing in unison, and the cheery harmonies on "Antioch", also known as "Joy to the World." All of the shapenote carols are somewhat hypnotic; I suppose my favorite is the complexly layered and enthusiastic "Oxford."

Those who love outstanding a cappella choral groups and favor early American works should run, not walk, to the nearest retailer to obtain An American Christmas: Shapenote Carols from New England & Appalachia. It's splendid through and through!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2005)

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From the liner notes:

The Tudor Choir:
Doug Fullington, Director

Soprano:
Jennifer Fanning
Ann Glusker
Jennifer Hrachovee
Lisa Cardwell Pontén

Alto:
Penni Ferraris
Laura Hutchinson
Linda Sabee
Mary Westburg

Tenor:
Richard Greene
Mark Powell
Wesley Rogers
David Stutz

Bass:
Joel Matter
Vernon Nicodemus
Cullen Stephenson
Manard Stewart

Recorded February 1-3, 2002
Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA

Producer: Brian Fairbanks

Once again, the fascination of shapenote music has lured the Tudor Choir from its usual Renaissance repertoire to continue exploring this American genre.. Doug Fullerton came across An American Christmas Harp, a collection of Advent and Christmas songs published in shapenotes. This compliation drew from the oblong tonebooks (mostly shapenote, though some were roundnote) of the 18th through the 20th centuries and collected together songs with religious Christmas words. An American Christmas Harp allows current shapenote singers to have singings during the holidays and "sing all the Christmas songs" without having to drag multiple tunebooks with them. Seeing this book inspired Doug and the Tudor Choir to make this recording.

One always wrestles with several questions when performing traditional music that, if faithfully rendered in its native style, would be too outré for many audiences to enjoy. Should professional singers use polished vocal tones or brassy untrained sounds? Will spontaneous vocal embellishments be allowed? Should rounded vowels be abandoned? How about using the very American "r"? Shapenote singers, particularly the Sacred Harp variety, accent their music with stamped feet and obvious vocal emphasis; should singers making a commercial recording do likewise? The Tudor Choir decided simply to be themselves and not attempt to sing like rural Americans who once gathered in inns or churches at singing schools, or as the current shapenote singers do at all-day singings. Field recordings of traditional singings are available for those who wish to experience such sounds. There is enough that is unfamiliar about this music, apart from its performance practice, to inform listeners that these are not standard church hymns or choral anthems or the usual Christmas songs heard over mall loudspeakers. Moreover, this music is sturdy enough to shine through any variety of interpretations.

The first different that will strike a listener unfamiliar with this genre is "singing the notes" before singing the words. (The choir does this for eight of the selections.) This traditional practice is a holdover from the singing schools where many traditional learned their musical skills. The singers are singing the name of each note in their part, which name is denoted by the shape of the note head (hence "shapenote" music..). Since each part has different notes, the result is somewhat cacophonous..

A second difference is that a listener often cannot distinguish who is singing the melody and who is singing a harmony part. The melody in this tradition is given to men and women singing the tenor part, while there are also men and women singing a harmony part (called treble) that frequently rises above the melody. Often, the alto part (women only) will be above the melody as well. Only the bass part (men only) lies mostly beneath the melody (the "air"). So the air find itself surrounded by the combined voices, rather than floating atop the other, supporting parts as we are accustomed to hearing it. Track, "Antioch," will be the easiest from which to pick out the air, due to its familiarity and the lack of an alto part.

Several of the selections are fuging tunes (note the specialized spelling), which although not exclusively American in origin have certainly been embraced with gusto by American composers. Characteristic of this form of song is that at some point (usually halfway through, but sometimes at the beginning) all the voices but one fall silent, and that part is allowed a solo for a measure or two. Then the other parts take their turn coming in.. There will be some copying of the initial solo, either note for note or only in rhythm. The words the singers are singing will also be staggered, making their understanding by listeners difficult if not impossible. All parts are brought together again in synchrony (i.e. homophony) by the end of the song.

The last difference to be mentioned is that a listener will notice that the harmonic choices on some of the songs are, to modern ears, unusual. Many scholarly theses and dissertations have been written on this topic; suffice it to say that these harmonies are characteristic of American music as preserved in the shapenote books and by traditional singers, and the choir is not singing wrong notes!

..Whether listening to this recording while drinking hot chocolate around the Christmas tree or while drinking iced tea on the back porch in July, prepare to enjoy old favorites in unfamiliar guises and marvel at now-obscure Christmas songs that were once as familiar to rural Americans as "White Christmas" is now.
--Karen E. Willard, 2002

From the Web site:

Recorded in February 2002, An American Christmas features Christmas shapenote tunes from New England and Appalachia.. Sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a generous gift from Nicholas J. Bez.

The Tudor Choir is Seattle's professional vocal chamber ensemble--a professional choral arts organization, founded by Artistic Director Doug Fullington in 1993 and dedicated to historically-informed concert performances and recordings, with a repertory emphasis on Renaissance, early American, and English choral music. The choir maintains a flexible membership of between 8 and 40 singers depending on the repertory.

In addition to an annual subscription series of Renaissance polyphony presented in the Seattle area, where they are Artists-in-Residence at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, and a Resident Ensemble at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, the Tudor Choir has performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Mark Morris Dance Group. The choir has also performed in conjunction with Seattle Opera, recorded for Seattle Symphony Orchestra's "Musically Speaking" series and performed live on National Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion" broadcast. Doug Fullington and the Tudor Choir have established themselves as leading interpreters of early American music. Their Shapenote Album is regarded as the definitive professional recording of the shapenote genre and is regularly played on National Public Radio. Their recent Shaker album has reinforced this reputation, as will the new An American Christmas recording to be released on the Loft Recordings label in November 2004.

The Tudor Choir recently has won inclusion on two touring rosters Early Music America's National Star Spangled Season roster, in order to promote U.S.-based early music groups to U.S. presenters; and King County Arts Commission's Touring Arts Roster, promoting local groups to area presenters.

The Tudor Choir has cultivated relationships with a number of world-renowned conductors and has sung under the direction of Stephen Cleobury (King's College, Cambridge, England), Martin Haselböck (Vienna), Paul Hillier (Hilliard Ensemble, Theatre of Voices), Andrew Parrott (Taverner Choir) and Peter Phillips (The Tallis Scholars).

The Tudor Choir

An American Christmas: Shapenote Carols from New England & Appalachia

Artist link

Track List