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Joyous Day
Utah Chamber Artists
Barlow Bradford
Artistic Director
This disc is sure to delight those who love the sounds of Christmas and are looking for artful arrangements that enhance the familiar with innovative quality. The ensemble’s performance creates a balance and sonority rarely found in a combined choir and orchestra. These are big, creative, highly orchestrated arrangements executed by first-rate professionals. Highly recommended!
Well, the forces really are big here – 44 singers and 48 players – and the sounds they cultivate are lush indeed. The vocal blends are rich and smooth, like the creamiest tomato bisque, and are beautifully supported by the orchestra. The arrangements are stunning, with just the right instrument at the right moment to add the touch that makes it perfect.
—New Classik
The Utah Chamber Artists, under artistic director Barlow Bradford, give a program of carols and traditionals that will bring back memories of happier times for many older listeners. To put it simply, this is the sort of Christmas album they just don’t do anymore (More’s the pity!)
You can forget about your tiny a capella choirs and carefully researched historical authenticity here. Joyous Day! recalls the lush, big, romantic sound of the Christmas albums of yesteryear. You remember: the sort of custom LP you used to pick up when you were shopping for Christmas at Sears, Penney’s or Goodyear, when the records were shiny black vinyl and the display windows looked out onto bustling city streets instead of yawning parking lots at the mall, and Dad would try to get away for a few minutes to take a look at the new models in the Ford dealer’s window. The sort of album that featured the Norman Luboff Singers or the Robert Shaw Chorale, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the really big numbers, with grand orchestral arrangements conducted by the likes of Skitch Henderson or Andre Kostelanetz.
Well, the forces really are big here – 44 singers and 48 players – and the sounds they cultivate are lush indeed. The vocal blends are rich and smooth, like the creamiest tomato bisque, and are beautifully supported by the orchestra. The arrangements are stunning, with just the right instrument at the right moment to add the touch that makes it perfect. “Music is full of color, “ writes Bradford, “and these pieces sang to me of the possibility of rich colors, bringing forward the meaning of the original text in musical terms.”
The colors and textures vary depending on the mood of the piece, from the rambunctious “Pat-a-Pan” with stunning brass and percussion at the climax to the spiritual beauty of “Still, Still, Still” with the flutes accompanying the soaring pure sound of the choir. Other selections in a rich program include “Angels we have heard on high,” “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly,” “Sussex Carol,” I wonder as I wander,” “Star candles,” Jesus rest your head,’ “Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella,” the lovely Welsh traditional “Suo Gan” (Sleep my baby in my bosom), the Ukrainian “Carol of the Bells,” and the perennial favorite “Silent Night.”
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