Eminent men's chorus Orphei Drängar's BIS release Christmas Songs should not be confused with the 1991 issue Christmas Music, on which it was led by longtime director Robert Sund. In 2008, Sund passed Orphei Drängar's baton -- rather surprisingly -- to a woman, Cecilia Rydinger Alin. Likewise, BIS' Christmas Songs manages to find a significant place in the mix for another female participant, soprano soloist Ida Falk Winland. Unfortunately, she isn't a very transparent singer and has difficulties with the language in at ...
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Eminent men's chorus Orphei Drängar's BIS release Christmas Songs should not be confused with the 1991 issue Christmas Music, on which it was led by longtime director Robert Sund. In 2008, Sund passed Orphei Drängar's baton -- rather surprisingly -- to a woman, Cecilia Rydinger Alin. Likewise, BIS' Christmas Songs manages to find a significant place in the mix for another female participant, soprano soloist Ida Falk Winland. Unfortunately, she isn't a very transparent singer and has difficulties with the language in at least the English and American carols programmed here. The listener can barely understand the text in Handel's "He Shall Feed His Flock" from the Messiah, presented as a solo piece for Winland against the bright backdrop of other guests, the Linné Brass Quintet, at a rather brisk tempo; it's not very Christmas-y. That's a pity, as some of the other pieces in the collection certainly are, such as the luscious Lux aurumque of composer Eric Whitacre or the grand rendition of Hark! The...
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