Eminent men's chorus
Orphei Drängar's BIS release
Christmas Songs should not be confused with the 1991 issue
Christmas Music, on which it was led by longtime director
Robert Sund. In 2008,
Sund passed
Orphei Drängar's baton -- rather surprisingly -- to a woman, Cecilia Rydinger Alin. Likewise, BIS'
Christmas Songs manages to find a significant place in the mix for another female participant, soprano soloist
Ida Falk Winland. Unfortunately, she isn't a very transparent singer and has difficulties with the language in at least the English and American carols programmed here. The listener can barely understand the text in Handel's "He Shall Feed His Flock" from the Messiah, presented as a solo piece for
Winland against the bright backdrop of other guests, the Linné Brass Quintet, at a rather brisk tempo; it's not very Christmas-y. That's a pity, as some of the other pieces in the collection certainly are, such as the luscious Lux aurumque of composer
Eric Whitacre or the grand rendition of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, heard in as traditional a setting as one might like, buttressed with the brass quintet and a small complement of instruments from the
Uppsala Chamber Orchestra. While one is pained to say that
Christmas Songs is simply better when the guest soloist is not singing, that's what it amounts to. One must chalk it up to the new director finding her footing with an old ensemble, and as Christmas collections tend to be more forgiving in regard to such experimentation, perhaps this was the right place for it. BIS'
Christmas Songs, however, in no way endangers the preeminence of the earlier
Christmas Music under
Sund, which remains one of the staples of
Orphei Drängar's recorded catalog, and listeners programming
Christmas Songs as background music for the holidays might want to cherry pick the track selection, as certain pieces are definitely stronger than others.