The Christmas Album / Sumi Jo

• Album Summary
• Notes & Reviews
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• Works Details

Album Summary

Performers

• Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Gottfried Bach (Piano)
• Hiro Kurosaki (Violin)

Conductor

• Schneider, Michael

Ensemble

• Cappella Coloniensis

Composers

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
• Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
• Adolphe Adam (1803 - 1856)
• Franz Gruber (Composer) (1787 - 1863)
• Samuel Scheidt (1587 - 1654)
• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 - 1725)
• Christoph Bernhard (1628 - 1692)
• Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621)
• Christmas Traditional
• Johannes Crüger (1598 - 1662)

Notes & Reviews:

Recording information: Studio Stolberger Straáe, Cologne, Germany (10/04/1999-10/09/1999).

Celebrated soprano Sumi Jo delivers a warm and bright collection of mostly lesser-known religious and secular holiday-themed pieces on Erato's 2001 release The Christmas Album, with a handful of popular seasonal works adding a comfortable familiarity. Accompanied on several tracks by simple violin and fortepiano, and on others by the rich VokalEnsemble Köln, these works by Bach, Mozart, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, and others are given an intimate baroque feel, and the use of these small ensembles suits Jo's voice warmly. While the whole album embraces this gentle, intimate feel, the high point comes in the first track; the unaccompanied "I Wonder as I Wander," hauntingly adapted from a traditional Appalachian folk song. This piece stands crisply apart from the rest of the pastorellas like the last moments of chill before coming in to sit beside the fire on a December night. While this most certainly won't end up next to Ella Fitzgerald Wishes You a Swinging Christmas in many peoples' music collections, Sumi Jo's The Christmas Album will deservedly garner the rapt attention of classical aficionados during the holidays. ~ Zac Johnson

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Works Details

Traditional, Christmas : I Wonder As I Wander (American)

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 1 min. 46 sec.
• Written: by 1933

Bach, Johann Sebastian : Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 :: Ich steh'an deiner Krippen

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 3 min. 4 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque
• Form: Christmas
• Written: 1734

Scarlatti, Alessandro : Oh di Betlemme altera povertà, chamber cantata for soprano & strings ("Cantata pastorale per la nati

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Conductor: Michael Schneider
• Ensemble: Cappella Coloniensis
• Running Time: 16 min. 3 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque

Crüger, Johannes : Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 1 min. 56 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque

Adam, Adolphe : Cantique de Noël for voice & orchestra ("Minuit, Chrétiens," "O Holy Night")

• Performers: Gottfried Bach (Piano); Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 3 min. 43 sec.
• Period Time: Romantic
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1851

Bernhard, Christoph : Fürchtet euch nicht, "Christmas concerto" for voice & orchestra

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Conductor: Michael Schneider
• Ensemble: Cappella Coloniensis
• Running Time: 8 min. 36 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque
• Form: Christmas

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Symphony no 19 in E flat major, K 132 :: Andante grazioso (extract)

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Conductor: Michael Schneider
• Ensemble: Cappella Coloniensis
• Notes: Composition written: 1772.
• Running Time: 4 min. 24 sec.
• Period Time: Classical
• Form: Orchestral
• Written: 1772

Gruber, Franz : Silent Night

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Conductor: Michael Schneider
• Ensemble: Cappella Coloniensis
• Running Time: 4 min. 14 sec.
• Period Time: Romantic
• Form: Choral
• Written: 1818

Praetorious, Michael : Musae Sioniae

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 2 min. 21 sec.
• Period Time: Renaissance
• Written: 1600

Vivaldi, Antonio : Concerto for Violin in E major, RV 270 "Il Riposo-Per il Natale"

• Performers: Hiro Kurosaki (Violin); Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Conductor: Michael Schneider
• Ensemble: Cappella Coloniensis
• Running Time: 6 min. 52 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque
• Form: Concerto
• Written: by 1742

Scheidt, Samuel : O Jesulein süss, for chorus

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 1 min. 49 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Exsultate jubilate, K 165 (158a)

• Performer: Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Conductor: Michael Schneider
• Ensemble: Cappella Coloniensis
• Running Time: 13 min. 58 sec.
• Period Time: Classical
• Form: Choral
• Written: 1773

Gruber, Franz : Silent Night

• Performers: Gottfried Bach (Piano); Hiro Kurosaki (Violin); Sumi Jo (Soprano)
• Running Time: 4 min. 14 sec.
• Period Time: Romantic
• Form: Choral
• Written: 1818