Holiday Singers
Recording date: 11/29/2004
Price: $10
The Holiday Singers, drawn from the Sonoma Bach Choir and the SSU Chamber Singers, have teamed up with recordist Matt Champagne to produce this recording, perfect accompaniment for trimming the tree! This CD features many of your favorite carols and Christmas songs, recorded in the shimmering acoustics of the Christian Brothers Mt. LaSalle monastery in Napa.
Program Notes
Merry Christmas from the Holiday Singers! We are a consortium of singers assembled from the Sonoma Bach Choir and the Sonoma State University Chamber Singers specifically for the purpose of providing magical music for holiday events. We offer a full array of both traditional carols and original arrangements of many of the popular modern Christmas songs.
This recording came about through the generosity of our recordist, Matt Champagne. I was talking with Matt about the fundraising efforts of Sonoma Bach, our umbrella organization, and he suddenly said, “Why not do a holiday CD?” And, in typical Matt fashion, he offered to engineer the recording as his contribution to Sonoma Bach.
So we reserved the magnificent chapel at the Christian Brothers Mt. LaSalle monastery in Napa; we accelerated our work on the holiday repertoire, so as to be ready for the November 14 session; and sooner than might be imagined, there we were, recording this festive repertoire.
However, there was a small glitch. A resident bat was stimulated by our music to contribute its own obligato line from time to time. With much patience and care for the bat’s feelings, we were able to discover enough moments of silence to finish our recording. But if you listen carefully, in one or two places, you may hear--not the cattle lowing--but the bat chirping melodiously at the manger.
We offer this recording with warmest holiday wishes, and hope that it provides the ideal accompaniment as you “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough!”
— Robert Worth
Track List
1 - Angels We Have Heard on High
2 - Ring, Christmas Bells
3 - Silent Night
4 - The First Noël
5 - Let It Snow
6 - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
7 - Winter Wonderland
8 - Fum, Fum, Fum
9 - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
10 - Lo, How a Rose
11 - Good Christian Men Rejoice
12 - Frosty the Snowman
13 - It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
14 - Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
15 - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
16 - Good King Wenceslas (Soloists: Margaret Field & David Stohlmann)
17 - In the Bleak Midwinter
18 - It Came upon the Midnight Clear
19 - Deck the Hall
20 - Jingle Bells
21 - The Holly and the Ivy
22 - Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child
23 - O Come, All Ye Faithful
24 - Away in a Manger
25 - We Wish You a Merry Christmas
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