Today we complete a trio of contemporary works with another familiar carol arranged by a longtime member of the ensemble: Neil Farrell. There are two common settings of this text, by Harold Darke and Gustav Holst, and many strong opinions about which is superior. Neil takes the already lush Holst setting as a jumping off point for this arrangement, presenting most of Holst’s harmonies, but adding a voice part and creating some soaring polyphonic sections.

This recording, from a Voices performance in the mid-90s, came into my hands directly from Neil’s personal collection. If you’ve wondered what singers such as the ones who are Voices regulars are up to during this time, the answer varies highly of course. Some have other full-time jobs, some have had to take up new professions (or are struggling to), many have a few gigs here and there recording or performing socially distanced church services and concerts. Neil has been a singing colleague of mine at various times over the last 20 years, and we’ve spent a fair amount of time on Facebook chatting about ways to virtually collaborate, and as a result of these public conversations, we both got involved with helping another colleague (Kristina Boerger) finish up a recording she is making remotely with the choir she directs at Augsburg University.

Over the course of a lively discussion, the five of us who were standing in for Kristina’s students decided that we should make an original at-home recording of something, just for fun in a time when we can’t sing together in person, and Neil suggested this piece and provided the recording below. I am confident that I will offend none of my colleagues in suggesting that while we will have a lot of fun, whatever we produce in our apartments will not come anywhere near the beauty of this vintage recording of Voices of Ascension.

– Wesley Chinn

Join us for our Candlelight Holiday Concert

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GUSTAVE HOLST (arr. Neil Farrell) In the Bleak Midwinter

Voice of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director

Live concert recording
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.