El nino querido
Gaudete

Anderson:
Sleigh Ride

Bernard:
Winter Wonderland

Holst:
In the Bleak Mid-winter (Cranham)

Lassus:
Resonet in Laudibus

Pierpont:
Jingle Bells

Ramirez:
La Peregrinacion

Tormé:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

This is a Christmas album that has a sense ofplace, clearly identifying the Chorale as bothAmerican and from a border state with Mexico, andsomething for everyone whether they preferserious or light festive fare.

There is Mexican influence in the repertoirechoices, which include Catalan folksongs as wellas Hispanic Renaissance music.

It includes a commission by Cecilia McDowall,written for Christmas 2021, new arrangements ofall tracks and also some contemporary Christmas favourites such as Sleigh Ride and Jingle Bells.

This marks the Chorale’s return to recordingfollowing an eight-year hiatus, and their first albumwith Signum Records.

“Festive repertoire plays an important role in theperformance cycle of every choir, and it felt fittingto begin our journey with a Christmas recordingthat established a sense of place for the ensemble:we chose to record repertoire that is all Americanor Hispanic in origin, save for the newlycommissioned piece by Cecilia McDowall that waswritten to mark the centenary of our home inPhoenix, Trinity Cathedral. Our aim is to translatethe warmth of Arizona into our sound, to conveythe rhetoric of every text, and celebrate the goodhealth of the American Choral Tradition.”-Christopher Gabbitas