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Catalogue No. JN103 

This album is available in digital download foromat at www.cdbaby.com




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Christmas Angelicus
CHORUS ANGELICUS and GAUDEAMUS
Directed by Paul Halley

A celebration of the holiday season with traditional and contemporary carols.

Catalogue No. JN103  CD is out-of-print.
This album is available in digital format only at www.cdbaby.com

Explanatory note:  This recording begins with the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City” which is sung in procession.  The first two verses will therefore sound distant and soft, as they were sung from the back of the chapel.  
 

Description

“Christmas Angelicus” features acclaimed children’s choir, Chorus Angelicus, and adult chamber choir, Gaudeamus, in the presentation of holiday choral works under the direction of Paul Halley.  This album is a beautiful evocation of the holiday season with traditional carols, majestic hymns, and glorious descants by composer Paul Halley.  Recorded at The Mary Keane Chapel at Shaker Village, Enfield, NH and St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford, CT by Grammy-award winning engineer, Tom Bates. This joyous celebration includes such traditional favorites as The First Nowell and The Twelve Days of Christmas as well as the more unusual Huron Carol and Torches.  An outstanding cover design in full color by Kerry Gavin Studios completes this irresistible package.


Reviews

from The Absolute Sound

“This is my favorite Christmas record of the last several years, which I got too late to make last year’s list. This label is part of Pelagos, a kind of Paul Halley boutique that publishes sheet music as well as recordings. Halley is the former organist of St. John the Divine in New York and a key member of the Paul Winter Consort; this record features the children’s and adult choirs he now leads in the Berkshires. Christmas Angelicus includes such classic modern carols as John Joubert’s “Torches”, Elizabeth Poston’s “Jesus Christ The Apple Tree”, and Harold Darke’s “In The Bleak Midwinter”, as well as modern arrangements of traditional tunes. It is all nicely sung, aside from a slight tendency to stress downbeats more than a subtle English choir would allow, and splendidly recorded in appropriate spaces. What earns it a place in the Pantheon, though, are the descants Halley wrote for four carols, in particular the one for “The First Nowell”, which soars above not just the last chorus but the entire last stanza, fresh, audacious, and thrilling, lifting the familiar carol into realms of glory (to borrow a phrase from another carol).”  

- Michael Alan Fox


from The American Organist Magazine

“Christmas Angelicus features traditional carols in settings primarily by British composers of the 20th century. Several of the selections feature arrangements and descants by Paul Halley, and it is here that his background in jazz becomes apparent, as the warm and occasionally surprising harmonic progressions lend a fresh and contemporary air to some of the more familiar tunes. From the opening solo of “Once in royal David’s city” – performed processional style a la Kings College Choir, Cambridge – to the closing rendition of “Hark, the herald angels sing”, these lovingly performed and recorded treasures are likely to find a home near the top of just about anyone’s stack of holiday favorites.” 

- Jennifer Kolmes


from The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians

"Diction and intonation are superb. The children and adults sing not only with coherence but with an admirable freshness of sound. Paul Halley’s descants and imaginative harmonizations are refreshing." 

- Victor Hill

CREDITS

Chorus Angelicus & Gaudeamus
Directed by Paul Halley 

Thomas Bogdan, Tenor
Bruce Fifer, Bass
Paul Halley, Organist
Elizabeth Allyn, Recording Accompanist

Produced by Tom Bates, Paul Halley & Margaret Race

Margaret Race, Executive Producer
Tom Bates, Recording Engineer
Katherine Leigh, Assistant Engineer

Choirs recorded at The Mary Keane Chapel, Enfield, NH

Organ recorded at St. Joseph Cathedral, Hartford, CT

Kerry Gavin Design, Art Design and Production
Margaret Race, Creative Supervision

© 1995 Paul Halley/Joyful Noise Inc.
Paul Halley, Joyful Noise Inc. Artistic Director
Margaret Race, Joyful Noise Inc., Executive Director

All Rights Reserved
Made in USA