Taylor Festival Choir have released a new CD titled “Sing We Now of Christmas” for Christmas 2010! Read below to see what people are saying about the recording and the live performances of music from the recording. You can purchase the CD here.
Posted by Phil Muse on Audio Video Club of Atlanta Holiday Classical reviews December 2010:
Robert Taylor, director of choral activities at the College of Charleston, SC, leads his own Taylor Festival Choir “Sing We Now of Christmas” (MSR Classics), a choral feast that will linger long in your memory after you’ve heard it. The music’s spell is enhanced by the accompanying instruments, giving it a middle eastern flavor that is appropriate to many of the selections dealing with holy birth and holy mystery. Besides the catchy lilt and sway of Liz Carroll’s Celtic fiddle, John Doyle’s guitar and mandola, and Kim Robertson’s Celtic harp, we have Susan Conant playing various whistles and recorders and Danny Mallon on a variety of percussion instruments including finger cymbals, wood railing, jingle bells, and bodhran, a Celtic frame drum with an open end for the hand to control the pitch. The exquisite vocal artistry of the 28 member Taylor Festival Singers will take your breath away in stylish, imaginative arrangements of carols and traditionals such as I Saw Three Ships, In the Bleak Midwinter, Wexford Carol, Wassail, Lord of the Dancing Day, Coventry Carol, Patapan, and the Basque traditional Gabriel’s Message (in a superb arrangement by Stephen Paulus). Less familiar, but equally moving are Today the Virgin (John Tavener), Estampie Natalis (Vaclav Nelhybel, from a 16th century original), and Children’s Song of the Nativity, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams from an English traditional. The artistry of the choir and vocalists is such as to discourage home listener sing-alongs, though if you’re like me you will be more than content to sit back and enjoy this musical feast. I even liked the Little Drummer Boy, to which I’d been so over-exposed I didn’t think anyone’s version could possibly enchant me.
From the Amazon.com CD page:
This is the perfect gift for the Advent Season. The Taylor Festival Choir, conducted by Robert Taylor, have finally recorded a Christmas CD. So many of my favorite carols have been reinterpreted here with a Celtic flair. Virtuosic performances by singers and imstrumentalists combine to offer a spiritual restorative during this bustling, over-scheduled Season. Sit back and relax with your beverage of choice…be it a steaming cup of tea or cider, or perhaps a Guinness. Robert Taylor’s version of Mrs. Fogarty’s Christmas Cake can’t help but elicit a chuckle. In the Bleak Midwinter, as arranged by Brian Galante, is just about the loveliest thing I’ve ever heard. Karen Marrolli has given Patapan an unexpected mystical feel, transporting the listener to an earlier age replete with high stone walls and the scent of a peat fire, while Liz Carroll and John Doyle add their artistry to this not to be missed arrangement. The Taylor Festival Choir has a sound no other choir has, beautifully blending to provide an exquisite listening experience. You will emerge refreshed and in tune with the Christmas Season.
I cannot end this review wtihout a special mention of the young soloist on the final track, Children’s Song of the Nativity. The ethereal quality of her voice is deightful, and perfectly suited to this piece. I hope you have the opportunity to hear Sing We Now of Christmas by the Taylor Festival Choir. Merry Christmas!
I usually don’t post my opinions but I couldn’t agree more with the first two. The music is exceptional. The only additional comments would be to refer you to their website if you want to get a real feel for who they are as well as tell you if you have any Celtic leanings, the music WILL take you make in time.
This CD is awesome. The choir’s voices are so beautiful. The version of Little Drummer Boy is mesmerizing because the tempo is not too fast. The tracks with the Celtic improvisations with Liz Carroll and John Doyle are very clever and uplifting. Sing we now of Christmas is my favorite. What an ingenious arrangement. I have listened to it a couple of dozen times already. Mrs. Fogarty’s cake is very funny. The Whitacre and McGlynn selections are such a nice change of pace from the worn out christmas carols that are usually on holiday cds. This is definitely my favorite Christmas Cd in my collection. I hope the Taylor Festival Choir makes one every year!
My wife leaned over and said “This is the best thing we’ve seen in thee years in Charleston.” I agree! What a great array of talent across the board, from the young fiddlers, to the fine, fine singers and players, to the brilliance of Mr. Doyle. Above all, congrats to the visionary who dreamed it, and scored it out.
