Apollo's Fire, Jeannette Sorrell, Ensemble La Nef
Description
"Oikan ains Bethlehem" - with these Gaelic words, a candle is lit, a procession is launched, and a haunting Christmas journey unfolds. Sacrum Mysterium, Apollo's Fire's hugely popular Celtic Christmas program, which premiered in six sold-out concerts in their home base of Cleveland in December 2011.
Long before Christianity took hold in Scotland and Ireland, the ancient Celts celebrated the Winter Solstice and the coming of light and hope. The echoes of Paganism still resounded in the 13th and 14th centuries, when faithful Scots sang the Vespers of St. Kentigern, Patron Saint of Glasgow. Jeannette Sorrells new celebration of Celtic artistic traditions interweaves selections from the medieval Vespers of St. Kentigern with ancient pagan carols and popular tunes from 17th-century Welsh and Scottish manuscripts for lute and harp. Joyous fiddle tunes and Irish dances burst forth against the vivid backdrop of the unfolding Christ story. The colorful sounds of antiphonal bagpipes, archlute, harp, percussion, fiddles and recorders are blended in musical arrangements by Sylvain Bergeron and Sorrell. The early-music ensemble La Nef of Montreal joins Apollos Fire for this international collaboration featuring the radiant Canadian soprano Meredith Hall.
Sacrum Mysterium joins Apollo's Fire's critically acclaimed, Billboard chart topping discography on AVIE.
Note: A Limited Edition CD was released with a bonus DVD (AV2269), which is no longer available.
Tracklisting
Christoph Croise; Andrey Baranov; Alexander Panfilov
The Orchestra Now; Leon Botstein
Donald Berman
Lauren Scott
East of the River
Sebastian Bohren, Sergei Bolkhovets, Munchener Kammerorchester
Cantata Collective; Nicholas McGegan
Yoshika Masuda, HyeJin Kim
Fred Eaglesmith & Tif Ginn
Michael Bolton
Don Powell's Occasional Flames
Various
Various
Christian Sands
Christian Sands
Tobi Reiser; Karl-Heinrich Waggerl
