Here’s more of a mixed holiday gift bag, containing two prime releases of very different sorts: one instrumental, one choral … but both with a Russian twist. While it’s definitely not a Christmas theme album, the fabulous Los Angeles Guitar Quartet’s Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker (DE 3132) definitely contains a beloved seasonal classic: a wondrous arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. This, and the album’s other dance music numbers (according to Newsweek, “…will have your kids dancing all around the house.” From there, it’s back to choral, with A Kremlin Christmas (DE 3271): a rich survey of Russian Nativity season chants by the wonderful Capella of the Moscow Kremlin Museum, covering four centuries of Orthodox tradition. If you love the rich, throaty sound (and those seismic, rumbly basses) of Russian choirs, try wallowing in this group’s hallmark sonorities … they’re guaranteed to take you straight to heaven!
Dances From Renaissance to Nutcracker
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
“the best present of all… for young and old alike… will have your kids dancing all around the house.” — Newsweek
“One of the finest guitar quartets in the world…If you haven’t heard a classical guitar quartet before, this one won’t just show you what you’ve been missing – they’ll blow you away!” — Guitar Player
A Kremlin Christmas
Cappella of the Moscow Kremlin Museum
Christmas Chants of Russia: 17th-20th Centuries Russian Orthodox Sacred Choral Music
“The Moscow Capella, founded in 1991 by Gennady Dmitriak, became affiliated with the Kremlin Museum in 1994. Renamed the Moscow Kremlin Choir, it has undertaken the task of reviving a Russian choral tradition that was suppressed, but, remarkably, never lost, despite the best (or worst?) efforts of the Soviet era. Delos’s survey of Russian Christmas music includes music from the distant past (Vasily Titov, 1650-1710) to the present (Alexei Larin, born 1954); composers well known (Sergei Rachmaninov), moderately familiar (Dmitri Brotnyansky, 1751-1825, and Alexander Kastalsky, 1856-1926), and obscure (Stepán Degtyariov, 1766-1813, and V. Zinoviev, no dates, no first name).” — Fanfare Magazine
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