|
REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk
|
|
||
THE MELLSTOCK BAND - Glad Tidings Serpent Press SER. 008 | ||||
I don't normally
enthuse about 'festive' releases, but I've enjoyed recent offerings from
different 'stable' (Wassail!, St. Agnes' Fountain, the Carnival Band!)
so I was not unkindly disposed towards this one . The disc's subtitle
A West Gallery Christmas provides the necessary clue to the character
and underlying intent of the release, which presents, amidst other not-necessarily-strictly-seasonal
fare, some of the more familiar Christmas carols in less familiar guise,
generally using the settings, instrumentation and singing styles of west
gallery choirs of the past. For those unused to the term, West Gallery
music (also known as country psalmody) is the distinctive harmony singing
tradition that flourished in rural English churches from the early 1700s
through till the mid-19th century. Music of extraordinary vitality that
was usually composed and taught by people of humble origins rather than
'professional' composers and performers, in which respect it has kinship
with several 'living traditions', such as Sheffield pub carolling and
American Sacred Harp singing. |
||||
|