(Note: All works are performed by the Elora Festival Singers. The DaCapo Chamber Choir appears only once on the CD – as the second choir in the work God was a child curled up.)

Of this CD, composer Leonard Enns writes « The concept of this recording is inspired partly by the paintings of William Kurelek, who set the nativity of Christ in the harsh cold of the Canadian North, rather than in a sentimentalized setting of chubby angels, smiling shepherds, and beautifully clothed rulers from the orient. I have always loved Kurelek’s collection, Northern Nativity, and it is a perspective similar to that which informs the collection on this disk. An equally important thread is, of course, the understanding of divine revelation as Word—a perspective drawn directly from the gospel of John. »

« Most of this mesmerizing material is wonderfully realized by Noel Edison’s Elora Festival Singers, one of North America’s very finest professional choirs. Any choral virtue you can name is theirs…Any modern sacred choral fan will bless the day he got to know Leonard Enns. »

– Lindsay Koob, American Record Guide

Videos:

Leonard Enns’ choral work This Day

Leonard Enns’ choral work This Amazing Day

1-4. Logos

5-9. Missa Brevis

10. God was a child curled up

11-13. Three Motets

14. The Hymn of the Cherubim

PERFORMERS:

Elora Festival Singers
DaCapo Chamber Choir
Noel Edison, conductor / chef de choeur
James Mason, oboe / hautbois
Jurgen Petrenko, organ / orgue