COMPOSERS: Various
LABELS: Harmonia Mundi
WORKS: Christmas Songs, Carols & Ballads
PERFORMER: Anonymous 4
CATALOGUE NO: HMU 807453
‘The Cherry Tree Carol’ here is sung solo by Marsha Genensky, with strong inflections from unaccompanied folk singing, in a version from the Appalachian mountains. It’s at the core of a group of Anglo-American settings used in this album, including a lovely three-part harmonisation of ‘A Virgin Unspotted’, and the playfully imitative four-part ‘Bethlehem’ by 18th-century New Englander William Billings. Most of the other items are medieval English in origin, although there are a couple of short, atmospheric plainchants from the Dublin Troper. Scholarly notes complement the immaculately clear-toned performances. Terry Blain