So Hallow’d the Time Review by Colin Clarke

by Colin Clarke

BRIAN GALANTE So Hallow’d the Time. PAULUS How Far is it to Bethlehem. Christmas Dances. Pilgrim’s Hymn • Robert Taylor, cond; Mary-Scott Taylor (vn); Jessica Hull-Dambaugh (fl); Kari Kistler (ob); Abigail Kent (hp); Taylor Festival Ch • DELOS 3580 (49:35 ) 

And so it begins (although you, dear reader, may well read this after the event): Christmas. This gloriously recorded disc is a veritable gift of seasonal glow, the impeccably drilled Taylor Festival Choir delivering on all levels. The five parts of Brian Galante’s So Hallow’d The Time encompass the core traits of the Season: “Wisdom”; “Peace”; “Love”; “Light”; ‘‘Hope.” The work focuses on the lead-up to Christmas rather than the event itself. It is a deliberate tribute to Paulus’s work of the same name. The scoring is for choir and instrumental ensemble that includes a prominent part for harp (linking it, in my mind at least, to Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols). Texts are by (in order Shakespeare (The Tempest), Milton (Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, movements two and four), Robert Southwell and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Galante’s way with harmony and texture is such that the one illuminates the other, something particularly noteworthy in the silvery sounds of “Peace,” while in terms of word setting in the 

first movement he isolates words and syllables, an invocation of the dark part of the arc of the year’s wheel. The third movement, “Love,” holds some beautiful soprano solos from Grace Kahl, her voice so pure one can liken it to a boy treble’s. I enjoyed Brandon Hendrickson’s strong baritone in “Light,” too, but it is perhaps the sheer lightness of the finale, especially at the joyous “Ring out, wild bells,” that captures best the spirit of Yuletide. I really do not know why there is not more music by Brian Galante in the catalog: this is a radiant, intelligent work, heard here in a gloriously multifaceted performance. 

Stephen Paulus is better represented. It’s wonderful to hear his version of How Far is it to Bethlehem, with its Middle Eastern-flavored oboe contribution softened by harp. The writing is wholly expert, as it is in the four Christmas Dances (scored for SATB choir, flute, and harp). Radiant harmonies abound, as carefully chosen as the texts by Jonathan Rist, Timothy Swan, Christopher Smart, and Ben Johnson, hallowed writers all. There is more of a feeling of restraint to the opening “Break forth,” and a real emphasis on sonic beauty countered by the bustling “Methinks I hear the Heavns’ resound.” The what might be called condensed reverence of “The Nativity of Our Lord” leads to the evident dances of “On the Nativity of Our Saviour,” with its flitting flute and mobile harp. 

Performed at the funerals of Presidents Reagan and Ford, Pilgrim’s Hymn, originally part of Paulus’ opera The Three Hermits, is at once lachrymose and inspiring; the high-lying notes are pitched with laser precision by the sopranos of the Taylor Festival Choir. Booklet annotator and conductor Rob Taylor suggests that Pilgrim’s Hymn is a miniature masterpiece, and I can but concur. A heart-warming selection of fine choral music, perfectly selected, perfectly performed and recorded. What’s not to like?

Colin Clarke

This article originally appeared in Issue 44:4 (Mar/Apr 2021) of Fanfare Magazine.