A Robert Shaw Christmas - Angels on High

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In this beautifully chosen program of mostly a cappella arrangements, Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers deliver the Christmas story in tones of gentle and moving splendor. The carols and sacred settings recorded here are all of an intimate sort, and the rapturous, gently expressive realizations Shaw and his singers give them prove unfailingly appealing. Particularly moving is the newest work on the disc, a setting of "O magnum mysterium" by the American composer Morten Lauridsen. Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" is another gem, as is the arrangement by Healy Willan of the French carol "What Is This Lovely Fragrance?" The offering includes a pair of chorales from Bach's Christmas Oratorio and two wonderful Christmas works by Benjamin Britten: "A Hymn to the Virgin" and A Ceremony of Carols, both well done, even if the sound of sopranos and altos (rather than boy trebles) in the latter takes some getting used to. --Ted Libbey

Tracks:

Medley: Good Christian Men - Rejoice - Silent Night - Patapan - O Come - All Ye Faithful
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Shepherd's Carol
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
Medley: O Sanctissima - Joy To The World - Away In A Manger - Fum, Fum, Fum - March Of The Kings
I Wonder As I Wander
We Three Kings
My Dancing Day
Medley: What Child Is This? - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Bring A Torch - Jeanette - Isabella - Angels We Have Heard On High
Coventry Carol
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
Carol Of The Bells
Medley: Break Forth - O Beauteous Heavenly Light - The First Nowell - O Little Town Of Bethlehem - I Saw Three Ships - Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly

Customer Reviews:

Traditional Christmas Music .......2007-01-24

If you love traditional Christmas music, done in traditional style (i.e., no rock or jazz influence), this CD is for you. The Robert Shaw Chorale, the "gold standard" of quality choral music, sings much loved carols, with some lesser-known pieces as well. Some are a cappella; some include a full orchestral accompaniment. My favorites on this CD are "We Three Kings," "Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella," and "I Saw Three Ships."

The quintessential Christmas recording.......2005-12-09

This recording seems to elicit universal and heartfelt praise. Who am I to dispute that? The performance is terrific, just as described by the other Amazon reviewers, no doubt about it.

However, I do have one bone to pick with this recording. There just isn't enough of it. With material as good as this, that is a real loss!

A Top List Christmas CD.......2004-12-28

I bought this cd long ago, and have enjoyed it immensely each year. It is the perfect blend of celebration and meditation. Orchestra and choir combine in four distinct groupings, and a capella arrangements complete the masterful collection. The orchestral arrangements will make the hairs on your neck stand up, and your stomach quiver with all the excitement you ever felt as a child at Christmas. Adeste Fidelis is performed as few other ensembles have ever come close. The a capella arrangements will all, without exception, be on your yearly list of must-hear holiday arrangements. Truly a top list Christmas CD, essential for every family who celebrates this feast.

The best.......2004-01-02

I own approximately 35 Christmas choral CDs - including choirs and groups such as the Cambridge Singers and the King Singers. I also own two Christmas albums with Robert Shaw and the Atlantic symphony. This performance with the Robert Shaw Chorale is old but it is still my favorite. The arrangements are magnificent, the sound is brilliant, and the choir and orchestra are precise with wonderful volume control. Buy and enjoy!

How do you describe perfection?.......2003-12-14

This is my favorite Christmas CD. Nothing comes close. I thoroughly enjoyed learning much of the music in high school choir over 30 years ago. The music has never left me. The four medleys are the arrangements of Robert Russell Bennett titled "The Many Moods of Christmas". The arrangements seem to have a freshness about them even after listening numerous times.

Interspersed with the medleys are a cappella carols.

All of this music is wonderfully performed by the Robert Shaw Chorale, the a cappella selections recorded in 1957 and the medleys in 1963.

Four decades have proven that this is the standard in choral music. The clarity of text, the richness of tone, the beauty of harmony combine to present the message of Christmas in the manner that only music can do.

Tracks:

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
Angels We Have Heard On High
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
How Unto Bethlehem?
The Boar's Head Carol
O Tannenbaum
Masters In This Hall
My Dancing Day
Away In A Manger
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
The Holly And The Ivy
Good King Wenceslas
Wassail Song
Bring A Torch, Jeannette, Isabella
Fum, Fum, Fum
Mary Had A Baby
Hacia Belen Va Un Borrico
Christ Was Born On Christmas Day
March Of The Kings
Coventry Carol
Deck The Halls
The Cherry Tree Carol
We Three Kings Of Orient Are
Toruo-Louro-Louro!
So Blest A Sight
I Saw Three Ships
What Child Is This?
Susanni
In The Bleak Midwinter

Customer Reviews:

Much Anticipated.......2007-01-26

I have been looking for this CD for years!! Our family had a Shaw Chorale LP which contained almost all the songs on this CD. We had a number of excellent holiday albums and played all of them often, but we wore the Shaw Chorale album out! Not only are the musical renditions excellent and very similar to earlier Shaw recordings, the nostalgia evoked for this listener is incomparable!

A Taste of Heaven.......2007-01-18

I received this recording on cassette from a choral teacher, and played it so often that I wore it out! I especially appreciate the purity of sound and the arrangements in this recording. Lovers of choral music will feel as though "Songs of Angels" brings them a taste of heaven!

The Energizer Bunny.......2007-01-18

Alas that Robert Shaw is no longer with us. Throughout his long and varied career he gave us choral music with exactness,good pacing,and proper execution though not all musicologists would chose his renditions.
In "Songs of Angels" recorded in 1994 he shows us that even in later years he just kept going and going. Giving us stellar performances of masterpieces such as "Elijah","The Creation" and other large choral works. Yet in this album he shows the same attention to detail and
enraptures us with that special beauty of tone and ensemble which was
was to be Shaw's watermark on his life's offering.

Great Seasonal Album.......2006-01-16

This is one of the most impressive period albums I own. Wonderful for the holiday season. Will miss it during the rest of the year.

The Most Beautiful Sounds I Have Ever Heard.......2003-02-04

A fluid and seamless piece of heaven that transcends all classical and holiday music. This is an OUTSTANDING non-traditional Holiday CD!!! Many voices come together as one in these enchanting verses sung in languages other than English. It is just enough language mix to appease and intrigue the soul but not too much so that the listener does not understand the lyrics. For example, the English verse is sung then a verse in German and then back to English. Emmanuel is written this way. Other languages include French (Angels we Have Heard on High) and even Catalan which is a dialect of Spain.

Several of the songs were not traditional Holiday songs (at least for my generation), yet they were intriguing to learn and now I feel I know them just like the traditional ones. This CD offers a healthy mix of traditional and non-traditional songs on this CD.

If you can picture the most beautiful sounds you have ever heard you can come close to the joy this CD will bring you. It is February and I can't stop listening to it. You will not regret purchasing it&the only regret you may have is not buying all of Robert Shaw's holiday CDs.

Tracks:

O Come, Emmanuel
Alleluia
The First Nowell
The Carol Of The Birds
Allon, Gay Bergeres
A Hymn To The Virgin
O Magnum Mysterium
Christmas Oratorio: Rejoice And Sing
Ave Maria
What Is This Lovely Fragrance?
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
Sing Lullaby
While By My Sheep
Christmas Oratorio: Break Forth, O Wondrous Heavenly Light
Heavenly Light
Adeste Fideles
Ceremony Of Carols: Procession - Hodie Christus Natus Est
Ceremony Of Carols: Wolcum Yole!
Ceremony Of Carols: There Is No Rose
Ceremony Of Carols: That Yonge Child
Ceremony Of Carols: Balulalow
Ceremony Of Carols: As Dew In Aprille
Ceremony Of Carols: This Little Babe
Interlude (Harp Solo)
Ceremony Of Carols: In Freezing Winter Night
Ceremony Of Carols: Spring Carol
Ceremony Of Carols: Deo Gracias
Ceremony Of Carols: Recession: Hodie Christus Natus Est

Amazon.com

In this beautifully chosen program of mostly a cappella arrangements, Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers deliver the Christmas story in tones of gentle and moving splendor. The carols and sacred settings recorded here are all of an intimate sort, and the rapturous, gently expressive realizations Shaw and his singers give them prove unfailingly appealing. Particularly moving is the newest work on the disc, a setting of "O magnum mysterium" by the American composer Morten Lauridsen. Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" is another gem, as is the arrangement by Healy Willan of the French carol "What Is This Lovely Fragrance?" The offering includes a pair of chorales from Bach's Christmas Oratorio and two wonderful Christmas works by Benjamin Britten: "A Hymn to the Virgin" and A Ceremony of Carols, both well done, even if the sound of sopranos and altos (rather than boy trebles) in the latter takes some getting used to. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful.......2007-02-16

The music is beautiful of course. The Robert Shaw Chorale is a high quality group of singers, and the arrangements they sing are really nice. Because of the age of the recording today's standards of equpment and tonal quality simply weren't available but the upgrade from analog vinyl was well-done. I shall look for more of these.

Robert Shaw Chorale.......2007-01-10

This is an excellent ablum. The music is lovely and quite varied. While there are many of the familiar favorites, there are also many new and different songs and the whole CD is a delight to listen to.

a perfect Ceremony of Carols!.......2005-12-22

This is the finest recording of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols I've ever come across, and there are plenty of versions to choose from. The King's College Choir rendition suffers from overstuffed acoustics, a constant with that choir, and their recording of Ceremony of Carols falls short in the requisite rhythmic clarity and intensity. The Christ Church, Oxford version is plodding, and lacks sparkle. Harry Christopher's The Sixteen come close, with marvelous sonics and ecstatic diction, but fall apart in the exacting 'This Little Babe' round with uneven cohesion, and strange stressed notes that ruin the waterfall effect so felicitously construed by Britten. I've not heard Britten's own conducted version, but he scrupulously insisted on boy trebles, and it's difficult if not impossible to conjure a more perfect rendering than the one given here by Shaw and his Chamber Singers. 'This Little Babe' is incomparable in each and all of its rapid fire contours, which is no mean feat. Mezzo-soprano Nanette Soles deserves special mention for incandescent singing on 'That Younge Child". The luminous pacing of 'There is no rose of such virtue' is notable, and to his credit Shaw employs the ecclesiastical pronunciation of the various Latin passages, unlike The Sixteen (and most other English choir recordings of this piece) who insist on an idiomatic British pronunciation of Latin, which offers nothing but distraction. Some will prefer boy treble singers, an attractive option, but for high musical values and the art they inevitably enshrine, it's impossible to be disappointed with this profoundly wrought version of Ceremony of Carols. Bach's 'Break Forth, O beauteous heavenly light' is just right, and I'd not heard 'Heavenly Light' by Aleksandr Kopylov; both are favorable additions to an excellent recording. Recommended.

Brilliant compilation.......2005-03-16

This is an absolutely outstanding collection of carols - some of them well-known, some of them obscure. As a choral singer, I've had the pleasure of singing many of these pieces, and I was delighted when I found them all in one place, and done by an ensemble so accomplished as the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers! It just isn't Christmas for me without this recording.

Didn't care for it that much.......2004-12-27

I prefer to hear the voices and the words of the carols, and this one has too much other sound (maybe even the use of massed voices); I have a hard time hearing what they are singing.

Average customer rating:

Understanding Robert Shaw's Joy to the World
Exceptionally poor remastering
A great buy
Disappointing
a holiday classic

Joy to the World

Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

Under $7 | Today's Deals | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
ASIN: B00004SYSR
Release Date: 2000-08-01

Tracks:

Joy To The World - It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Angels We have Heard On High
O Come, O Come, Emanuel - O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Silent Night
O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) - Luther's Cradle Hymn (Away In The Manager) - God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
We Three Kings - The First Noel - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Shepherd's Carol - Coventry Carol - Patapan
My Dancing Day - I Wonder As I Wander - Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella
Carol Of The Bells - Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming - Go Tell It On The Mountain
I Sing Of A Maiden - Echo Hymn - Wassail Song - Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly

Customer Reviews:

Understanding Robert Shaw's Joy to the World.......2004-12-08

Other reviewers in this space have been critical of the sound quality of this recording. They are quite correct that, compared to today's standards -- or even those of the 1960s -- the quality of this recording is terrible. The recording, however, was made in the late 1940s and released on 78s. For THAT time, I think the quality is phenomenal. The performances have held up well over the years, as well, with that characteristic Robert Shaw "one voice" sound. The tonal shading is as precise as the diction. Listen for it; this level of precision and nuance (perhaps a little over-emphasized to make up for the recording technology) is as rare today as it was then. For basic carols performed in 4 part a capella, it just doesn't get any better than this.

Exceptionally poor remastering.......2002-12-01

There is probably no chorale ensemble in the U.S. better than the Robert Shaw Chorale. I realize that this is a re-release of recordings originally made in the 1960s, but I have higher expectations. There is a good deal of hiss and high-pitched background noise, and at least one track starts with the sound of the tape slowly starting. Someone was not paying attention in the sound booth when they were doing the digitalization. If this is your first experience with the Robert Shaw Chorale, you'll never come back. Try "Songs of Angels" or "Angels on High" first -- these are more recent recordings, but they show what the Chorale could do. There is almost nothing of merit in this CD.

A great buy.......2002-01-05

Certainly the sound quality is not up to today's digital standards, but this is an historically significant early recording performed impeccably by one of the greatest choral groups of the recording era. And how can you beat the low price? This cd will definitely be included in future holiday listening.

Disappointing.......2001-11-20

The sound quality of this recording is really poor. I realize the source tape is the cause of this, but it seems that it was engineered very strangely, the sound has a muffled quality to it.
Also, the songs are done in "medley" fashion, rather than as individual works.
Get "Christmas with Robert Shaw" instead.

a holiday classic.......2001-11-10

My parents have this album on vinyl, in mono! It was "the Christmas album" at our house. If I get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, I put this on and it reminds me to slow down and enjoy! I taped the old album onto cassette and the quality isn't very good any more so I was elated to find it on CD.

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