Christmas From Goshen, Indiana, 1978!

Merry month-from-now Christmas!  Diane kindly sent me two privately-pressed choral LPs made in Goshen, Indiana--a cultured place, judging by these vinyls.  (I hate the term "vinyls," but it's become popular, so...)  Both LPs (high school choirs; Goshen College) were shrink-wrapped, though the high school LP had been opened.  To no avail, I'm afraid--the tight shrink did its worst, and the vinyl is quite warped.  However, I salvaged the last track on each side--Santa Baby and Hallelujah Chorus--so, you get to hear those.  Noel With the Goshen High School Choirs is the title, but neither the jacket nor label tell us anything more than that.  No year given, but it's a digital-era Delta Records production, minus that cool logo on Delta's earlier releases.  I've posted a number of Delta productions in the past, and those zips should still be available.  Note: should.  Meanwhile, the Goshen College LP, which was totally encased in shrink wrap, wasn't warped at all.  Go figure.

Christmas Music From Goshen College contains specific credits, to a point, though it could have been more thoroughly annotated.  It was pressed by A+R Manufacturing Corporation in Dallas TX, while the music was recorded in Elkhart IN.  Goshen College is a Mennonite-sponsored liberal arts college, and as we can expect, the selections are high art all the way.  And amazingly well performed--of course.  We get Benjamin Britten's famous and delightful A Ceremony of Carols, art carols like Fum, Fum, Fum and Mary's Little Boy Chile, and Vivaldi's Gloria (or one of them, anyway).  Recorded live at Goshen College on December 10, 1978, and the audio is great, my Stanton 680 LP stylus being the first needle to touch these grooves.  They waited nearly 44 years for this moment.  ("Finally!"--Grooves.)

Kodály's Christmas Dance of the Shepherds may be the highlight of the program for me, in large part owing to the amazing flute accompaniment by Anita Stoltzfus.  And this version of Fum, Fum, Fum (dating back to the 16th or 17th century) is probably the best I've heard to date.  Bear with the long pauses between selections--I just kept those as is.  I suppose the mastering service could have shortened these, but it didn't.  Anyway, no Suzy Snowflake or Sleigh Ride in this lineup, though we do have the Goshen High School choir (which one?) choral-swinging its way through Santa Baby to start things out.  The rendition won't remind you of Eartha Kitt's hit--more like a selection from Grease.  But it's fun.

Oh, and the now-standard Calypso carol Mary's Little Boy Chile is well done, and it's a modern number written for Walter Schumann's choir, which recorded it in 1956.

Oh, boy, now I get to type out the credits.  And it comes out to (gulp) thirteen tracks.  Lucky thing I'm not superstitious.

DOWNLOAD: Christmas From Goshen IN, 1978

Santa Baby (Javits/Springer)--Goshen High School Choirs, Marcia E. Yost, Director

Hallelujah Chorus (G.F. Handel)--Same

Noel--Goshen High School Choirs, Delta Records DRS89-906

A Ceremony of Carols (Benjamin Britten)--Women of the Chamber Choir--Nancy Moore, Harp

What Sweeter Music (Halsey Stevens)--Men of the Chamber Choir

As I Out Rode This Enderes Night (Halsey Stevens)--Same

Fum, Fum, Fum, (Arr. Shaw-Parker)--Chamber Choir.

My Dancing Day (Arr. Shaw-Parker)--Chamber Choir

Mary's Little Boy Chile (Jester Hairston)--Chamber Choir--John E. Miller, Tenor

Gloria (Vivaldi)--Marcella Eberly, Elsie Wenger, Jane Hamiel, Sopranos; Priscilla Stucky, Oboe.

A Son is Born of Mary (Robert Wetzler)--Kent Beck, Tenor

Lullay My Liking (Gustav Holst)--Goshen College Chorale

In Bethlehem's Low Stable (Anon.)--Freshman Womens Ensemble; Debra Detwiler, Conductor

Christmas Dance of the Shepherds (Kodály)--Same; Anita Stoltzfus, Flute

Christmas Music From Goshen College (Recorded Dec. 10, 1978 by Tri-Fidelity Associates, Elkhart IN; Mfd. by A+R Record Manufacturing Corporation, Dallas TX)

Lee