VA - Christmas from a Golden Age (1925-1950) (2003)

This is a fascinating and engrossing compilation: the most remarkable sensation I had was that the musical evocation of Christmas mattered to these performers in a very direct and secure way. There is in almost every track a deep sincerity which I cannot find in many of the recent or current Christmas releases - and I don't think this is a brutally cynical comparison. Not only are there some superb voices displayed here, but the delivery and use of some of the voices seems to go way beyond the technical, and at times reaches magically inspiring heights.
This is a fascinating and engrossing compilation: the most remarkable sensation I had was that the musical evocation of Christmas mattered to these performers in a very direct and secure way. There is in almost every track a deep sincerity which I cannot find in many of the recent or current Christmas releases - and I don't think this is a brutally cynical comparison. Not only are there some superb voices displayed here, but the delivery and use of some of the voices seems to go way beyond the technical, and at times reaches magically inspiring heights.

Here is the great Martinelli, fluent phrasing with great dramatic impact - not at all surprising this recording became so popular. This is top-of-the-tree singing. And the young American tenor Richard Crooks, at 25, with engaging narrative energy and an instinctive acknowledgement of how and when to point words and notes, particularly responsive to nuances and changes of tempo, well supported by a willing orchestra in The Star of Bethlehem. He was already a complete artist with knowing delivery and awesome vocal quality, a truly great voice. Also the 27-year-old Victoria de los Angeles, making a haunting Catalonian carol delectable in every bar, with inventive colouration of voice and vowels, ably supported by a guitar duo.

Ernestine Schumann-Heinck gives a version of Stille Nacht which has more changes of tempo and pulse than an opera, yet it is utterly convincing and full of personal conviction. The combination of rhythmic flexibility, dynamic shaping and nuance, plus sincerity, is unbeatable. The Danish tenor, Aksel Schiotz, gives two extracts from Messiah displaying a refined line and admirable diction, and floating a genuinely moving interpretation on a very pleasing, light vocal timbre.

John McCormack is instantly a recognisable voice and artist, and his contributions here reach varied success. The setting of Adeste Fideles is quite superb, and includes, in the fine chorus, a young Crooks and others. Gladys Swarthout, U.S. mezzo, makes a significant impression in the Appalachian Song I wonder as I wander, as does Dorothy Maynor, the black U.S. soprano in Go Tell it on the Mountain.

There is a spine-chilling thrill in Frenchman Georges Thill's account of Adam's Cantique de Noel, and Lawrence Tibbett's singing of A star was his candle is one of the greatest pleasures on the disc, demonstrating how to use a superb instrument to telling expressive effect with apparently natural instinct.

Less impressive are the rare Richard Tauber recording of White Christmas (overdone and inconsistent vocally), McCormack's The Holy Child (highly over-enunciated) and Der Tannenbaum in duet by Hulda Lashanska and Paul Reimers.

Real treats remain however in Rosa Ponselle's gracefully accomplished Gounod Ave Maria - almost perfect - and Claudia Muzio, soprano, delivering Ninna-Nanna della Vergine by Reger so well that I'd almost become a Reger convert. The soft upper register is exquisite, and the sensitive simplicity of the composition is adorned by the controlled tone and dynamic of Muzio's performance in all registers and volumes - breathtakingly assured.

In all, a marvellously enjoyable disc which brings unforced smiles through great artistry and unshakeable musical conviction - no other present required!

Colin Touchin

Naxos show their usual acumen by catering for different niches of the Christmas music market. The Tonus Peregrinus disc rings some stunning and disorientating changes on the traditional favourites and sounds. This disc sets out to grasp the nostalgia of Christmas bounded by the usual 50 year copyright period.

Schiotz (comprehensively documented by Danacord) with his regular fast vibrato picks up the solid ‘Christmas pudding’ school of Messiahs. I wonder if three tracks of Messiah one after the other are too much of a good thing. McCormack in Adeste fideles and The Holy Child is typically nasal and trounces the competition for clarity and word adumbration. Is there however much joy in this?. The alto-inclined tones of Ponselle's 1926 Ave Maria arrive on the scene only after a lengthy prelude in which the solo violin carries the line. Muzio's Ninna-Nanna track, surprisingly by Max Reger, has a pleasing and folksy cradle-rocking rhythm. Martinelli is right there at the front with a voice vibrant as the noon-day sun. From him there is no hiding place in Gesu Bambino. Der Tannenbaum is from a 1927 vintage 78 by Hulda Lashanska and lucid-toned tenor Paul Reimers. Schumann-Heink's Stille Nacht was taken down in 1926. Her trembling soprano is very intimately balanced and with a balalaika effect orchestra - surely that is a harmonium not, as the label claims, an orchestra. Dorothy Maynor's Go Tell It On The Mountain is a welcome blast of oxygen though just a bit metronomic. The McCormack Little Child of Mary strong for the imaginative coupling and superbly insightful playing of Edwin Schneider. In I wonder as I wander Swarthout has an ineffably secure hold on the line - a standout track as is the McCormack one. Victoria De Los Angeles sings Casals’ Song Of The Birds to a rather rigid accompaniment of guitars from the Tarrago brothers. The 1942 Tibbett in A Star Was His Candle is staggeringly immediate and secure by comparison with the De Los Angeles track. Crooks is terribly tight and unrelieved in tone. Could he muster no softness? Compare this with the generosity and smiling spirit in Georges Thill's Cantique De Noel by Adam. Thill is not afraid to give of his personality - different countries different mores, no doubt. We end with Henry Geehl conducting Tauber in a clip-clop, reindeer bell arrangement of Berlin's White Christmas. Tauber’s English indulges a Viennese coffee-flavoured accent. There is a chorus and an organ and an orchestra as well. Tauber's high note on White is ecstatically luminous - a steady starlit glow.

Nostalgia and glutinous sentimentality aplenty. Many of the tracks are caught in the jet of previous decades' sentiment. Outstanding tracks are the Tauber White Christmas, Schumann-Heink's Silent Night, Swarthout's lovely I Wonder As I Wander, and the Reger Ninna-Nanna.

Rob Barnett

Bill Kenny has also listened to this disc

In his excellent and enthusiastic sleeve note to this disc, Jeremy Nicholas asks the question, ‘Do these ancient discs bear scrutiny when today you can hear any number of outstanding singers rendering Christmas selections in state-of-the-art sound?’ His answer is a resounding affirmation: ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘a hundred times yes,’ because the music offered has such a ‘rich variety.’

I’m not sure that everyone will agree, and for two reasons. First, the rich variety runs from Messiah to White Christmas by way of Christmas parlour songs, with some spirituals and folk tunes thrown in. Some of the music is interesting and memorable and (fairly unarguably I think) some of it is not. A second factor affecting appreciation, is that singers of equal stature in the opera house or concert hall vary enormously in their capacities to cope with more popular repertoire. ‘Cross-over’ is obviously not a new problem; some artists sing anything wonderfully and others simply don’t.

Allowing for acknowledged yet unavoidable biases on my part, some examples of what I enjoyed here are Reger’s, The Virgin’s Lullaby sung beautifully by Claudia Muzio, a soprano much admired by Eva Turner apparently, Pietro Yon’s Gesù Bambino, belted out at full tilt by Giovanni Martinelli, Lawrence Tibbett’s seriously manly version of Theresa del Riego’s A star was his candle and Adolphe Adam’s Cantique de Noël thrillingly performed by Georges Thill. Though the music varies in quality, these singers tackle it all with easy artistry and make listening entirely pleasurable.

There are other tracks of similar standing. Gladys Swarthout is touchingly affecting in ‘I wonder as I wander,’ as is Victoria de los Angeles with ‘The Song of the Birds,’ and Dorothy Maynor’s delivery of ‘Go tell it on the Mountain’ accompanied by her a capella male choir, dated though its style might be, certainly has an obvious warmth and sincerity to my ear. Aksel Schiøtz and Margarete Matzenauer of course, give their Messiah excerpts with great style.

Without attempting a track by track comparison, I was a good deal less happy with the second American baritone, John Charles Thomas, with the tenor Richard Crooks, with Tauber and with Marcel Journet, the only bass on the disc, who recorded his track near the end of his life but with obvious evidence of former glories. I freely admit however that this judgment has as much to do with the music presented as with the performances. Perhaps not entirely however, although I’ve never liked ‘White Christmas’ whoever sings it.

The one thing that is incontestable about this disc is the superb quality of the digital restorations by the Seth B. Winner Sound Studios. The lack of extraneous noise and steadiness of pitch is remarkable. More importantly though, the disc gives a very good sense of what all of these undoubtedly gifted performers must have sounded like in life.

I am sure that some listeners will share Jeremy Nicholas’s enthusiasm entirely and I am equally certain that others will think more highly of tracks that I disliked. There are clearly good things on this disc in abundance, as well as some that are less good. Which is which is a matter for debate.

Bill Kenny

Tracklist
[3:35] 1. Aksel Schiotz - Messiah: Comfort ye, my people
[4:17] 2. Aksel Schiotz - Messiah: Ev'ry valley shall be exalted
[3:55] 3. Studio orchestra - Messiah, HWV 56: He shall feed his flock
[3:49] 4. John Mccormack - Adeste fideles
[3:05] 5. John Mccormack - The Holy Child
[4:38] 6. Rosa Ponselle - Ave Maria
[3:32] 7. Marcel Journet - O salutaris
[2:49] 8. Claudia Muzio - Ninna-Nanna della Vergine, Op. 76, No. 52 (The Virgin's lullaby)
[3:59] 9. Ladies' Chorus - Gesu Bambino
[3:00] 10. Studio orchestra - Der Tannenbaum
[3:51] 11. Studio orchestra - Weihnachten
[3:59] 12. Stewart Wille - Stille Nacht (Silent Night)
[3:39] 13. Richard Crooks - The Star of Bethlehem
[2:48] 14. Elisabeth Schumann - Coventry Carol
[2:49] 15. Studio chorus - Go Tell it on the Mountain
[2:42] 16. John Mccormack - Little Child of Mary
[3:25] 17. Milton Katims - I wonder as I wander
[2:34] 18. Graciano Tarrago - El Cant des Ocells
[2:40] 19. John Charles Thomas - Christmas Candle
[2:26] 20. Lawrence Tibbett - A star was his candle
[3:08] 21. Clarence Dickinson - O Little Town of Bethlehem
[4:07] 22. Georges Thill - Cantique de Noel (O Holy Night)
[2:59] 23. Henry Geehl - White Christmas