Comfort and Joy: Volume Two
Classics Today
Artistic Quality: 8; Sound Quality: 8
David Vernier

The focus here is definitely on "joy", which probably should be written in capital letters, for these performances and arrangements by the excellent Cantus male vocal ensemble are as exuberant and dynamic as you will hear from any group, especially in Christmas music. (For a review of the first volume, type Q8385 in Search Reviews.) For some listeners this will be a good thing; for others, it may be a little too much of a good thing, as the engineering also makes sure that these 10 voices fully occupy every cubic inch of your listening space for the program's entire 43 and a half minutes (which again, some may think is not enough!).

Beginning with a drum-enhanced processional, Erick Lichte's setting of Puer natus in Bethlehem, and continuing through Halsey Stevens' Four Carols, the tone is lively, upbeat, emphatic--and invariably well-sung. William Dawson's spiritual Hail Mary is a perfect choice, sounding as if written for these finely matched singers, whose rhythms precisely swing with one voice and who really project their enthusiasm through the music. Along the way we also hear new and sometimes surprisingly different settings of familiar tunes or texts, including the plainchant Hodie Christus natus est, Masters in this hall, What sweeter music, Riu Riu Chiu, and Go tell it on the mountain.

I wasn't fond of the droning, repetitive, and just not very musically interesting Betelehemu, and I found the sudden appearance of electric bass, drums, and jazz/pop vocalizing in the disc's final number--producer Erick Lichte's souped-up version of Deck the Hall--to be weirdly out of sync with the rest of the program. And I also must mention that although the sparkly silver paper in the disc booklet may have made an art director happy, its reflective surface behind the tiny, narrow, script-like type renders the liner notes and texts frustratingly illegible. Nevertheless, this is a generally classy production, full of excellent music and singing, and its few flaws will be graciously endured or overlooked by most devoted Cantus fans and Christmas music lovers.