Christmas round-up

Since her appointment as director of music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Anna Lapwood has significantly enhanced the Chapel Choir’s profile and founded a Girls’ Choir for 11-18 year-olds. They unite for A Pembroke Christmas, where clarinettist Emma Johnson and cellist Wallis Power (both Pembroke alumnae) make guest appearances. Highlights include a numinous take on Macmillan’s O Radiant Dawn, Ailsa Mcternan’s soaring solo in Patricia Van Ness’s ‘Archangelus’ and a performance of Kerensa Briggs’s

A Tender Shoot, which shows the Chapel Choir’s vibrant tonal blend and intelligent enunciation at their best. Three carols composed by the Girls’ Choir add further interest to an inspiring recital. (Signum SIGCD724) ★★★★

The German soprano Diana Damrau’s two-disc My Christmas ticks some of the same boxes as the legendary Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s Christmas Album, though Damrau seems more naturally at home in the seasonal idiom (see p26). Disc one has a crossover emphasis, with slightly glitzy medleys and popular favourites like Gruber’s Stille Nacht. Disc two is more solidly ‘classical’ in tone, including an account of Handel’s

‘Let the bright seraphim’ graced by Damrau’s gleaming coloratura technique, and an elated ‘Amen’ from Zelenka’s Laudate pueri. Opinions will vary over Damrau’s quite pronounced vibrato, but there’s no doubting the sincerity of her endearingly communicative singing. (Warner Classics 5419728612) ★★★★

The 24-voice Norwegian

Soloists’ Choir has built a loyal audience for its regular Christmas concerts in Norway. Their high quality is evident in Veni – Songs of Christmas II, a recital with a pronounced Norwegian flavour, though expressive accounts of works by Bach and Ives signal international credentials. Both the traditional Me ska bryggja te jul and Å her møter mangt have strong folk inflections, and burnished solos by the alto Mari Askvik. A violin, nyckelharpa, harmonium, accordion and double bass provide accompaniments, and join together for a jolly instrumental account of Ding Dong, Merrily on High.

(BIS BIS-2511) ★★★★

Merton College Girl Choristers was formed in 2016, and draws its members from schools in Oxford.

In The Stillness is its recording debut, and shows how far the choir has travelled artistically in its six-year existence. Joined by the lower voices of Merton College Choir, the Girl Choristers exhibit a crystalline clarity of tone in the traditional Rocking Carol, and fullvoiced attack in Joubert’s Torches. Impressive unanimity characterises Britten’s A

New Year Carol, while Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter is limpidly evocative. Benjamin Nicholas conducts empathetically. (Delphian DCD34262) ★★★★

Cantus is an eight-man vocal ensemble based in Minneapolis, and has built an enviable reputation for close-harmony singing in its 28 years of existence. Into the Light is a typically imaginative recital, ranging from a doo-wop-tinged

I saw three ships to an achingly gorgeous take on Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, with Paul Scholtz and Jacob Christopher the outstanding tenor soloists. Two Aguinaldo Carols highlight Cantus’s pinpoint rhythmic accuracy, while Brittney Boykin’s O magnum mysterium is a textbook example of immaculately blended part-singing. For vocal aficionados, this is a pleasure from start to finish. (Signum SIGCD723) ★★★★★