Each holiday season brings numerous recordings from small British choirs, but stateside, there are many fewer. This one by the fine ten-voice choir
Seraphic Fire
, not even from one of the major choral centers, can stand with any release of the 2023 season and should be around for several years subsequently. Despite the presence of works from various places, including the increasingly-becoming-a-holiday-standard
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
by Britain's
Elizabeth Potton
, the program here has a distinctively American flavor, such as African American spirituals and the ubiquitous
I Wonder as I Wander
. These are nicely integrated into a program that offers some depth along with the faves, including pairs of settings of the same text. Sample the Spanish-language
Jesús in pesebre
and its English counterpart,
Away in a Manger
, in a setting by crossover phenomenon
Ola Gjeilo
. It is all artfully chosen to make a pleasing impression that hangs in the head in a more lasting way. The choral singing is precise, with the texture varied by a group of distinctive young soloists; check out mezzo-soprano
Tivoli Treloar
in
. The album is worthwhile simply as a survey of some vocal up-and-comers and much more. The engineering from a South Florida chapel has a spacious acoustic that results in good text intelligibility but may not be to all tastes; sample and decide. ~ James Manheim