Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain : An Irish-Appalachian Celebration—Apollo’s Fire/Jeannette Sorrell (Avie 2396)
Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, is in the midst of its 30 th anniversary season, so we thought it was time to revisit this 2018 release. Apollo’s Fire had a hit with Sugarloaf Mountain in 2015—both as a live concert and a Top 5 Billboard Classical Crossover CD—so it was inevitable that the ensemble would follow up with a holiday version. But that inevitability doesn’t make the disc any less fresh and compelling. For almost 70 minutes Jeannette Sorrell leads Apollo’s Fire, Apollo’s Singers, Apollo’s Musettes (children’s chorus) and soloists in a typically well-crafted program that at times spins and rollicks (it’s impossible to keep from tapping your toe), and at other times arrests the listener with its quiet beauty. Nowhere is this simple beauty more apparent than in Christ Child’s Lullaby sung by Amanda Powell. Stunning! And one can’t help but be grateful that Sorrell decided to include the Bonus Track, The Parting Glass, a duet with Powell and tenor Ross Hauck. It seems a fitting way to close holiday celebrations: Goodnight, and joy be with you all.