This is a Christmas disc from the well-loved children's choir based at a Protestant church in Dresden, in eastern Germany. It may be striking to U.S. listeners, and even to those in other non-German-speaking countries, how unfamiliar it is musically. Conductor
Roderich Kreile speaks movingly of the importance of Christmas traditions in an interview that serves as a set of liner notes, but this is a very different set of Christmas songs than would be heard outside Germany. "Christmas carols" in the English translation of the interview is not really a good rendering of the German word Weihnachtslieder, or Christmas songs; many of the pieces here are not carols in the strict or even the loose sense of the word. Instead, as
Kreile said, "we always present items in motet style in addition to hymns in simple harmony." This means that you will hear, for example,
Anton Bruckner's difficult even-part Ave Maria in addition to four-part hymns anyone could sing. The Dresdner Kreuzchor is unaccompanied throughout; it does as well as any group of kids intonationally with the more complex pieces and sound appealingly pure in the simple ones. The disc seems to follow a general progression from more challenging to familiar, in the manner of American glee club concerts that begin with Renaissance motets and proceed to a college-song finale, but there is no strict separation. Several of the selections are internationally famous, including the
Michael Praetorius setting of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Lo, how a rose e'er blooming) and the concluding Stille Nacht (Silent Night), but much of the music will be most familiar to German audiences. The texts are printed in the booklet but left untranslated -- too bad for international audiences wishing to learn more about Germany's deeply rooted traditions. For those with roots in or near Dresden, however, this disc provides an ideal holiday celebration.