Arianna Savall & Petter Udland Johansen - Silent Night - Early Christmas Music and Carols (2018) [Hi-Res]

Mediterranean and Nordic Christmas music with Arianna Savalland her Baroque ensemble HirundoMaris Since the founding of their ensemble in 2009, HirundoMaris, the Catalan harpist and singer Arianna Savall, and the Norwegian tenor and violist PetterUdlandJohansen have committed themselves to music from the Middle Ages up to the Baroque period. And a special emphasis has been Mediterranean and Nordic music. For their current album, “Silent Night –Early Christmas Music and Carols” both musicians and ensemble conductors have chosen traditional Christmas songs from the north and south. And in doing so, invite you along on a journey of sound into the magical world of centuries-old winter, Advent, and Christmas music. The German song “Silent Night” is laid out on the program alongside the Norwegian Christmas song “Mitt hjertealltidvanker”, the Provençal “Ô nuitbrillante” and the Catalonish, “El cant delsocells”, which the legendary early music pioneer Jordi Savall, Arianna Savallsfamous father, orchestrated for the recording.

“Every country has its own Christmas traditions and its own treasure trove of Christmas songs” says the musician from the HirundoMaris ensemble (the ensemble name is the Latin term for “sea swallow”). “Some of them, like “Silent Night” are known throughout the world and are translated in numerous languages, but many of these songs have remained hidden in their home countries like a national treasure. HirundoMaris now showcases many such musical treasures in imaginative compositions that fuse the old with the present day.

Arianna Savall, Harp
Petter Udland Johansen, vocals