By Alidë Kohlhaas

How can anyone not be charmed by Christmas music, either sacred or popular? I found three CDs that caught my fancy, in part because they employ voices, and in part because they arouse those special feelings we have about the event such music is connected to from our earliest days. All distributed by Naxos, they are the product of Ars Musici, a company that appears to be located in Germany.

Two of these CDs feature the Knabenchor Hannover (Boys Choir of Hanover), a group unfamiliar to me. They may not have the fame of the Vienna Boys Choir, but their voices are as charming and often as sweet, depending on the song. I certainly enjoyed the tone of these two CDs, in some ways very different from each other.

Europäische Weihnachten (European Christmas) (Ars Musici, 48:01 min., 232164) features the choir under the direction of Heinz Henning, accompanied by organ, flute, oboes, clarinet, trumpet, viola and a variety of other instruments as well as an adult tenor, bass and baritone. Although the songs are all sung in German, they come from a large number of European countries, not just Germany. Some are very familiar to us, others are a new discovery, such as a song from Russia and one from Spain. The liner notes provide some text in English, so we know at least a little about the group and the motivation behind this CD.

The second one, Vom Himmel Hoch (From Heaven Above). It features the same choir accompanied by organ and a group called Fiori Musicali Bremen, and offers up Christmas cantatas and motets from Northern German composers (Ars Musici, 56:37, 232426). Among them are the well known Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), and a group of lesser known composers, all from the 17^th to 18^th centuries.

I enjoyed these sacred works, although they have a typically northern voice, somewhat darker and heavier than we expect of Christmas music. My one complaint about this CD is not about the music or the singing, but about the liner notes. They are in German only and so offer those who are unfamiliar with the language little background into this music. While one enjoys music for its own sake, and as well as the voice, one still wants to know what is being performed for us. A definite drawback as far as I am concerned. It surprises me because Ars Musici is a well known brand.

The third CD is titled Faire is the Heaven (Ars Mucici, 57:23 min., 232347), obviously playing to the English-speaking public. Its subtitle is, however, in German: Weihnachten mit der Camerata Vocale Freiburg (Christmas with the Camerata Vocale Freiburg). The title of the CD is taken from a song by William Harris, which in part goes > Faire is the heaven/where happy souls have place.= The only other English language song is Magnificat by Charles Villiers Stanford. Other composers featured on this CD are Felix Mendelssohn, Francis Poulenc, Max Reger and Franz Gruber= s Silent night as arranged by Winfrid Toll, the director of Camerata Vocale Freiburg.

Again, my major complaint has nothing to do with the quality of the production or the voices. They are both excellent. The liner notes are in German only. This is a definite drawback. Perhaps Ars Musici is counting on the German community in North America, forgetting that most are several generations removed from their German ancestors and so no longer speak the language. German is simply not a major language on this continent.

Faustina Bordoni has been moved to Archives