Recordings

Swingle Bells (2008)

Swingle Bells is an eclectic recording for the Christmas season: The disc opens with a blend of traditional and new carol arrangements, both festive and reflective, by Canadian composers: Andrew Ager, Robert Anderson, Stephen Chatman, Eleanor Daley, Robert Evans, Alexander Tilley, Peter Togni, Graeme Wearmouth, and Healey Willan. The only exception is /Laudate Dominium/ by French composer Arthur Honegger. The second half offers nine wonderful sets of carols by Ward Swingle. In total, twenty-three carols from around the world are heard as The Winnipeg Singers bop through these cool jazz arrangements. Winnipeg jazz icon, Ron Paley, and his Trio are support musicians on all the Swingle tracks.

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O Praise ye the Lord (1997)

This disc brings together hymns, anthems and prayers from various traditions. A tapestry of praise is woven, whose many colours and textures reflect a myriad of approaches to God. Majestic hymns by Goss and Parry, dressed in new descants, are contrasted by Mennonite Kernlieder, whose powerful intimacy speaks from the very heart. The jubilant cry of William Mathias’ Let the People Praise Thee, written for the wedding of Charles and Diana, stands beside the quiet yearning of Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine. Mendelssohn’s Hear my Prayer, with its sublime combination of soprano solo and chorus builds on the harmonic textures of Schubert’s devotional Mass in F, with its glowing inner voices.

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We prairie folk are a singing people. What better way to while away the long winters than to rehearse and perform choral music? It brings us together with others in pursuit of a common goal. It exercises our crative imaginations and gives us a ready excuse for a party. Our love of music, our many ethnic backgrounds (each with its own choral tradition), our love of harmony and our love of good company have left us with a rich choral soil. Out of such soil spring composers and it is their voices that we want to celebrate in this recording. Each of the composers heard on this recording grew up on the prairies and each brings something unique to the choral palette. Whether it’s folk song settings, new sacred works or experiments in sound, they have given us the distilled essence of their own prairie experience and done us proud in the process.

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CDs are $20 plus shipping. ($2.00 in Canada, $5.00 to the US, $10.00 International)

To order, please send a cheque or money order, along with the title(s) you wish to order, your name, address, postal code and phone number to:

The Winnipeg Singers
P.O. Box 2382
Winnipeg MB Canada
R3C 4A6