It's about time again for me to extoll the virtues of J.S.  Bach's
Christmas Oratorio as recorded by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen
choir and orchestra.

I was driving back from Philadelphia the other night, and I had the volume
cranked up as much as my battered old speakers could take.  WOW!  These
people sing beautifully, and with great enthusiasm.  Let me point up the
highlights:

Overall choral singing:  superb.  It's a nice compromise between perfect
tone and perfect emotion.  In some recordings you get one but not the
other, but here - - it's almost perfect in both ways.  Makes you want to
sing along, and I don't even know the words.  I'd say:  marginally better
than Gardiner.  (They certainly sem to have more fun singing.)

Overall orchestral quality: fantastic.  Nuff said.

The Bass, Michael George (no relation to George Michael, of "wake me up
before you go go" fame) does a rollicking job of the Aria "grosser Herr".
He has a really fruity, wobbly vibrato.  It annoys me a little.  But the
pace, the phrasing, the emotion, the energy!  Even Fischer-Dieskau in one
of my other recordings (I think King's College and Ledger/ASMITF) doesn't
do as well.  And Crispian Steele-Perkins does the trumpet incredibly well.
If you like momentum, this aria is hard to beat.

Trumpet: Crispian Steele-Perkins: see above.

Continuo:  This is something I'm fascinated with.  They use a Theorbo
as part of their mix of continuo instruments, and I strain to try and
identify its sound.  I think it's prominent in the stanza of Vom Himmel
Hoch that closes the first one-sixth of the oratorio (just before the
Pastoral Symphony), and sounds lovely.  Just such a happy sound.  [BTW, any
references about where i can read about such things as Theorbos in detail
woul dbe much appreciated:  please write direct to me.  Thanks in advance.]

The Pastoral Symphony.  Beautifully played, with good pace, neither too
fast nor too slow.

The tenor aria (whose opening phrase is so similar to the little D minor
minuet in the anna Magdalena Notebook) - - wait, it's "Frohe Hirten".
There's a lovely recorder obbligato, i believe, though they don't give the
credits.  In fact, they only list a flutist (Rachel Beckett).  I would
really like to know if it's just a baroque flute, or in fact a recorder
they use in this number.  It is just beautiful.  (Matter of fact, the
rather angry-sounding tenor aria with two solo violins:  ""Ich will nur dir
zu Ehren leben" is pretty neat.  (I think the words mean:  I will live only
to glorify thee, and don't thee fergit it.) The tenor is Michael Padmore,
who has a lovely light tenor.

One of my favorite Soprano arias, since I began listening to this work:
"Nur ein Wink von seinem Ha:nden" (tr:  with a mere wave of his hand, he
trashes impotent guys.  Earthy Bach humor here.) The lady is Lynda Russel.
Again, her vibrato is a tiny bit too prominent, and her intonation suffers
as a consequence, but somehow I just love the way she does every soprano
aria.

There is a lovely trio for soprano, alto and tenor, and Russel, Wyn-Rogers
& Padmore do an absolutely wonderful ensemble job of it (with a sensitive
violin solo by David Woodcock).  [In the King's College version which
features Janet Baker and Richard Tear, and - - I believe - - Carolyn
Watkins(?) I must admit that Tear (see below) doesn't deliver the goods.
His phrasing is simply too overdone, and distracts from the texture.]

Somehow, Christophers seems to be able to prevent the soloists from making
the solos too excessive.  (Like, I could tell you about this tenor called
Richard Tear, but I won't*.  This Tear could make a statement such as "And
they stopped for brunch" sound like "Oh, Absalom, my son...") Gardiner goes
even further:  he makes solos sound like hurried interludes between the
choral numbers, and I really resent that.  I mean, I like the choruses
every bit as much as anybody, but...

 [* I resolved not to, but I seem to be telling you an awful lot about Tear,
anyway.]

The weakness is the contralto.  But even she does a fair job of my
two favorite alto arias:  bereite dich Zion, and Schlafe mein Liebster.
Even here, despite the tendency of Catherine Wyn-Rogers to wallow a bit,
Christophers keeps things moving along beautifuly.  The accompaniment is
just on the money, once again.  This man is a genius.

My version of this recording is through Musical Heritage Society
524295Y.  The original issue was on Collins Classics, and is available
from the Berkshire Outlet.

I would like to know more about Harry Christophers and his choir, and
to tell them how super they are.  Seems to me that Gardiner and his
troops have serious competition here.  These people sing good, but their
instrumentalists play really well.  Is it the case that this is an old
group that no longer performs? (It says (P) 1993, which is quite recent),
and if not, why don't we hear more about them?

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