To Catch a Christmas Star
       Christmas with Roger Wagner

Carol arrangements by Rutter, Wagner, Gardner, Willcocks, Sowerby,
Terri, Vaughan Williams, and others and works by Britten and Berlioz
Roger Wagner Chorale/Roger Wagner
Delos 3072 (available from BMG Music Service: D104961)
Total Time: 63:25

Summary for the Busy Executive: Wonderful.

In the Fifties and Sixties, one could argue that the two best professional
U.S.  choirs were the Robert Shaw and the Roger Wagner Chorales.  Both
groups disappeared somewhere in the late Sixties.  Shaw went on to the
music directorship of the Atlanta Symphony, while Wagner seemed to have
dropped off the national choral map until his old age, when he began
recording again.  RCA kept at least some of Shaw's old recordings
available, while Capitol/EMI forgot Wagner's work entirely.

The musical personalities of both men contrasted strongly, and they
dominated choral practice in different regions of the country: Shaw mainly
in the East and Wagner on the West Coast.  Although both conductors used
some of the finest professionals available (Florence Kopleff sang for Shaw
while Marilyn Horne sang for Wagner), their groups sounded different
and absolutely individual.  Shaw favored what I'd call a clean,
"Congregationalist" style, while Wagner cultivated a sound more opulent,
akin to what Stokowski did for his orchestras.  In both cases, this came
about from tinkering: Shaw by a precise mix of individual singers, Wagner
by transferring whole sections (contraltos not uncommonly mixed with
tenors) or adding a discreet cello or organ pedal to the bass line.  Both
groups sang very much in tune, but unlike, say, certain more modern groups,
intonation never excited you by itself.  Shaw kept more to standard rep
than Wagner, although this may have been due to their labels' programming
strategies rather than to the musical preferences of the conductors
themselves.  Shaw was sharper rhythmically and more elegant, but Wagner
often got more viscerally exciting performances.  Fortunately, one didn't
have to choose between them.  We were extremely lucky to have both.  I hope
for more re-issues.

This may very well have been Roger Wagner's last recording, and it's
a winner.  If anything, the Chorale sounds even better than in the
old days, and one can't, with certain exceptions, beat the program for
attractiveness.  Although Christmas has no religious meaning for me, its
aesthetics have always attracted me.  The symbols of birth in winter, the
guiding heavens, the warmth at the center of the cold loneliness and
clarity powerfully work upon me.  It doesn't hurt that the carol tunes are
among the most beautiful I know.  Consequently, I favor arrangements which
don't get in the way of the melodies.  A few of the cuts succumb to the
sentimental and the church-genteel, but in many cases, the caliber of
performance removes most of the treacle.  I wish only that Wagner had
included more a cappella material.  Highlights for me include "Sweet Little
Jesus Boy" arranged by Wagner, "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" arranged
by John Gardner, Vaughan Williams's vigorous and suave "Wassail Song," and
"Sing we now of Christmas," a bransle arranged by Prentice.

Salli Terri, a wonderful singer and arranger, contributes two stunning
arrangements: "The Coventry Carol" and "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Because
I can't help myself, I find myself comparing them to Alice Parker's classic
settings for Shaw.  Parker's setting are starker, more monumental, more
dependent on modes, open fifths, and contrapuntal imitation.  Terri's are
warmer, closer to an idea of the folk's actual music-making.

Of the original compositions, Britten's "Hymn to the Virgin" and Berlioz's
"L'Adieu des bergers a la Sainte Famille" stand out easily.  Britten
wrote the "Hymn" early on for choir and distant solo quartet.  It poses
challenges of intonation, dynamics, and seamless trade-offs between the two
groups, which Wagner's singers meet and overcome (even if they do get help
from an instrument-reinforced bass line).  The Berlioz was a favorite of
both Wagner and Shaw (the latter recorded it at least three times and
featured it in his annual Cleveland Christmas concerts).  Here, their
usual musical personalities reversed.  Shaw's reading aimed at and hit the
sumptuous.  Wagner's, telling in its simplicity, I think stands closer to
Berlioz's concept.  The rest of the program receives top-notch readings of
exceptional flexibility and clarity.  For example, he Vaughan Williams,
conceived for a madrigal group, loses none of its grace or high spirits
with Wagner's larger forces.  Delos's sound is quite fine.

Steve Schwartz