Product Review
No one has recorded more innovative Christmas anthologies than Andrew Parrott--and this disc is no exception. The Promise of Ages presents a collection of wonderful seasonal music arranged for women's voices (all arrangements were either made or sanctioned by the composers). The selection includes 15th-century English works such as "There is no rose of swych vertu"; traditional tunes both genuine ("Deck the Halls" in an 18th-century Welsh arrangement for harp) and fake (J. J. Niles's "I Wonder as I Wander" and "Lullay, thou little tiny child"); rollicking Irish dance tunes; and 20th-century works by such composers as Britten, Holst, and Judith Weir on traditional Christmas texts. One ingenious and effective suite combines Peter Maxwell Davies's "O magnum mysterium" and "The Fader of Heven" with the 14th-century "Song of the Nuns of Chester." All of the performances are exemplary, but Emily van Evera deserves special praise for her beautifully simple rendition of the Niles tunes. This collection can stand alongside Parrott's The Carol Album as the thinking person's Christmas albums. --Matthew Westphal