Search - Christmas Traditional, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi :: Sumi Jo - The Christmas Album

Sumi Jo's performances on this record are so splendid that they transcend its rather odd mix of vocal and instrumental combinations, languages, and styles. Using Christmas as its unifying element, the program juxtaposes the familiar and the unknown and is anchored by three cantatas: one by Alessandro Scarlatti, sung in Italian; one by Christoph Bernhard in German; and Mozart's famous "Exultate, jubilate" in Latin. They alternate with songs and chorales for both solo and choir, including the well-known unaccompanied folksong "I wonder as I wander," which opens the program. Bach is represented only by a chorale from his Christmas Oratorio. The selection of the instrumental pieces seems less felicitous. Vivaldi's E major Violin Concerto, though associated with Christmas, is not one of his best. The slow movement of an early Mozart Symphony, which is supposed to contain a quote from a German carol, is an even stranger choice; however, it is so beautiful that the incongruity hardly matters. Inevitably, the record includes that most popular of all Christmas songs, "Silent Night," not once but twice: first in German with a fine contralto in her only appearance and an orchestral accompaniment straight out of the movies, and to close the program, in English with violin and fortepiano. Both versions use a melody substantially different from the familiar one. Sumi Jo's crystal-clear, perfectly focused voice sheds a silvery shimmer over everything she touches. Her vibrato is a little too narrow, but the coloratura is impeccable, the phrasing natural. She radiates an infectious joy in her own singing and the music, whether simple or sophisticated, that should light up any Christmas celebration. The accompanying forces are excellent. --Edith Eisler