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Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers

CD+DVD

Jeannette Sorrell (harpsichord & conductor) & Meredith Hall (soprano)

Apollo's Fire

This type of fusion is increasingly popular, and Apollo's Fire do it enthusiastically, if perhaps without the final degree of finessed musicality that other ensembles bring to this type of project

Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers

CD+DVD

Jeannette Sorrell (harpsichord & conductor) & Meredith Hall (soprano)

Apollo's Fire

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44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

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320 kbps, MP3

$10.00

No digital booklet included

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This type of fusion is increasingly popular, and Apollo's Fire do it enthusiastically, if perhaps without the final degree of finessed musicality that other ensembles bring to this type of project

About

Sacrum Mysterium, Apollo's Fire's popular Celtic Christmas programme, arrives on CD together with a bonus DVD.

Long before Christianity took hold in Scotland and Ireland, the ancient Celts celebrated the Winter Solstice and the coming of light and hope. Jeannette Sorrell's celebration of Celtic artistic traditions interweaves selections from medieval Vespers with ancient pagan carols and popular tunes from 17th-century Welsh and Scottish manuscripts. Joyous fiddle tunes and Irish dances burst forth against the vivid backdrop of the unfolding Christ story. The colourful sounds of antiphonal bagpipes, archlute, harp, percussion, fiddles and recorders are blended in musical arrangements by Sylvain Bergeron and Sorrell. The Montreal-based early-music ensemble La Nef joins Apollo's Fire for this collaboration featuring the radiant Canadian soprano Meredith Hall. The CD is complemented with a bonus DVD featuring several songs from the album.

Contents and tracklist

Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Oikan ayns Bethlehem (The Babe in Bethlehem)
Track length5:44
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Duan Nollaig
Track length1:47
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Responsorium - Gloria Patri
Track length2:37
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Hymnus, Iste confessor Domini
Track length2:29
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", The Road to Lisdoonvarna
Track length1:45
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Veni, veni, Emmanuel
Track length3:07
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Nowell, Nowell, Tydings Trew
Track length3:07
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Noël nouvelet
Track length2:58
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night)
Track length2:37
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Come, My Children Dere
Track length2:56
Part I "A Light in the Darkness", Wat ye What I Got Yestreen
Track length3:14
Part II "Song og Mary", Taladh Chriosda (Christ Child's Lullaby)
Track length3:55
Part II "Song of Mary", Hodie, Christus natus est
Track length1:06
Part II "Song of Mary", Magnificat anima mea
Track length3:15
Part II "Song of Mary", Antiphon de Maria ad Vesperas - Benedicamus
Track length1:31
Part II "Song of Mary", All Songs of Adam, Sing Nowell!
Track length3:10
Part II "Song of Mary", What Child Is This?
Track length3:40
Part II "Song of Mary", Usheg veg ruy (Little Red Bird)
Track length3:29
Part II "Song of Mary", O'Carolan's Cup
Track length2:11
Part II "Song of Mary", O Carolan's Favorite Jig
Track length1:41
Part II "Song of Mary", At Work on the Land / Tatter Jack Walsh
Track length4:01
Part II "Song of Mary", The Seven Rejoyces of Mary
Track length3:40
Part II "Song of Mary", Postlude, Christmas Eve
Track length2:05

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

Christmas 2012

This type of fusion is increasingly popular, and Apollo's Fire do it enthusiastically, if perhaps without the final degree of finessed musicality that other ensembles bring to this type of project

May 2014

Dennis and Radley could have brought more savour to the acerbically witty Italian text...But their singing is mellifluous, nimble and gracefully shaped, with Dennis nicely catching Amaryllis's mix of playful caprice and dismissive spirit.

November 2012

This is a very well thought-out and produced recording which is original in concept and has a variety of moods.

Early Music Today

This is an intriguing blend of Celtic medieval and folk music for Christmas and the winter solstice, sung and played with gusto in this US-Canadian collaboration...the instrumental contributions throughout this disc are highly colourful.
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