Search - Mcewen, Watson, Mitchell :: Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity

Mcewen, Watson, Mitchell
Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity
Genres: Special Interest, Classical

Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
1. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: It Was The Winter Wild
2. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: But He Her Fears To Cease
3. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: But Peaceful Was The Night
4. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: And Though The Shady Gloom
5. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: The Shepherds On The Lawn
6. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: At Last Surrounds Their Night
7. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: But Wisest Fate Says No
8. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: The Lonely Mountains O'er
9. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: And Sullen Moloch, Fled
10. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: So When The Sun In Bed
11. Hymn On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity: But See, The Virgin Blest

CD Details

All Artists: Mcewen, Watson, Mitchell
Title: Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Chandos
Original Release Date: 1/1/2000
Re-Release Date: 11/17/1998
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
Styles: Holiday & Wedding, Opera & Classical Vocal, Sacred & Religious, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 095115966921

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Sir John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) is part of an extraordinary generation of composers that established the Romantic tradition in England. McEwen draws on the same sacred and secular sources as Charles Villiers Stanford and Charles Hubert Parry, and it should come as no surprise that Chandos has been aggressively promoting the works of all three men over the past decade. McEwen's Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity is a 1905 oratorio, more secular than sacred, that has survived only in an unperformed final draft version. Based on Milton's famous ode, Hymn lacks the stodginess of your typical fin-de-siècle church hymn. Instead, Alasdair Mitchell and the Brighton Festival Chorus invest the work with buoyancy and unexpected cheer. --Paul Cook

CD Reviews

Magnificient in every way

Joseph Serraglio | Cleveland, Ohio USA | 12/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After listening, I could not believe that that this wonderful work had never been performed. The orchestral writing is tuneful and rhythmically powerful. McEwen sets the text of Milton's "Nativity Ode". The album notes are unusually detailed & informative. The sound is magnificient, reproducing the vast dynamic range of this music.

This is a big vibrant work in every way, not at all stilted or dated, as some oratorios tend to be. The notes cite Handel, Wagner and Parry, among others, as influences, but the work's dramatic qualities remind me, surprisingly enough, of Verdi's "Requiem". Whatever its influences, I found this music to be highly original."