1} Valdis Zilveris - Starlit Christmas
2} Ingmars Zemzaris - Immanuel, O God Most High
3} Ilona Rupaine - Our Lady's Lily Garden
4} Karlis Lacis - Christmas Cantata

During my 30 years in music retail, the first week in November is when I would put the Christmas music stock out on the store shelves and floor racks for customers to browse through. Inevitably, the same old recordings of the same old Christmas Carols would always outsell anything new or different. (I would always think to myself: "Surely everyone in the city has got this old CD by now, so why is it still in such high demand?"). I would try my best to play new arrivals, but in the end, most of them seemed to be the same old stuff simply rearranged for various instrumental ensembles, or the same traditional carols sung by a different choir or the latest star singer. No wonder customers didn't bite. Had this new CD titled The Light Of Christmas been available back then, I'm confident I would have sold many copies simply based on its fresh and unique content.

Not only are these pieces presented here in their world première recording as commissioned by the New York Latvian Concert Choir, but they are also quite different from one another. Starlit Christmas resonates with simple childlike innocence and wonder at the beauty of Christmas, bringing together Christian and folk imagery within its text, and many memorable melodies within its music. Its final song, titled Silent Night will leave you wanting more. Immanuel, O God Most High on the other hand, sounds like it could have been pulled right out of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The composer's solid grasp of the Baroque style makes it sound authentic, with finely written counterpoint, clever layout of all the vocal parts, and subtle but effective instrumentation throughout. Composer Ilona Rupaine evokes a more pantheistic vision of Christmas, with the use of imagery revolving around nature, fir trees, animals, winter, the moon, and the spirit of Christmas Eve. The orchestral opening of this work instantly brings to mind the sound world of Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony. And oddly enough, the Christmas Cantata sounds nothing like a Cantata. It sounds more like something Leroy Anderson could have written (wood blocks and all), with its slight jazz harmonies and pop music flow. All in all, this is not one of those Christmas discs that you would use as background music for the holidays, but rather something to listen to and enjoy.

All the singers, various choirs and orchestral musicians involved combine forces and uncover the music's restrained and hidden charms, which includes the lyrical beauty of the Latvian text. The booklet notes contain detailed English translation of all the lyrics, as well as ample notes on the artists and composers involved. So there .... now you can't complain anymore that recordings of Christmas music are always the same.

Jean-Yves Duperron - November 2015