Sam's 'Mood to Be Wooed' Plus Singles

With this LP, one of the most dynamic of all performers, Sammy Davis, Jr., turned reflective for the first time. For Mood to Be Wooed, a 1957 Decca release, the singer is backed only with a solo guitar, played by noted studio musician Mundell Lowe.

Davis returned to this concept in 1966 for a better-known Reprise album, albeit with a new song list. There, he was accompanied by Laurindo Almeida.

This post combines the Decca LP with six single sides from the same label that haven't had an official re-release for several decades.

Mundell Lowe

For his Decca repertoire, Davis turned to his great friend Frank Sinatra for inspiration. Most of the songs on the LP are associated with Frank. He had recorded one number ("Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered") only a few months earlier in conjunction with his lead role in the film of Pal Joey. Jimmy Van Heusen wrote "I Could Have Told You" for a 1953 Sinatra single. Frank had featured three of the other songs on his moody 1955 LP In the Wee Small Hours - including "This Love of Mine," which he co-wrote. And he had recorded several of the other numbers back in the 1940s.

I also suspect, without any evidence, that Davis' sparse accompaniment was inspired by Sinatra's chamber music LP, Close to You, recorded in 1956 with the Hollywood String Quartet and a few winds and brass.

Sam had an extroverted style, so even in Mood to Be Wooed he never seems as inward as Frank was in the latter's more subdued recordings during this period. In "What Is There to Say" (not really a ballad anyway), Davis can't resist belting out "what is there to DO-HEE-YOU-HOO-HOO" in the climax of the song. A similar use of melisma, a stylistic trademark of his, pops up several times in this collection.

But don't let me make too much of these matters. Mood to Be Wooed is a very good record, well sung and nicely accompanied by a talented guitarist. (FYI - two Mundell Lowe LPs appeared here in 2019, courtesy of David Federman.)

Davis at about the time the LP was recorded

Bonus Singles

The bonus singles all date from 1955. I remastered the files from lossless originals found on Internet Archive. These are all fast-paced numbers with big-band backings, and provide quite a contrast to the Davis-Lowe LP.

"It's Bigger Than You and Me" was a Styne-Robin song written for the musical film version of My Sister Eileen. There it was introduced by Jack Lemmon, who made several albums as a singer and pianist. He is, however, no match for Sammy, who is fully in his element, and enjoying terrific backing by Sy Oliver. This single was apparently released before the film, which the label identifies with its working title, Here Comes Eileen.

The flip side of "It's Bigger" was a cover of an early Gilbert Becaud song with new English lyrics, called "Back Track!" The exclamation point is fully warranted as Davis is at his exuberant best.

Bob Russell's "Circus" is a standard pop number of the time, well backed by Oliver. Another ephemeral number is "Dangerous," which was co-written by guitarist Billy Mure. The bombastic arrangement is by Morty Stevens.

Davis returned to Sinatra territory with his cover of "Adelaide," which Frank sang in the then-current film version of Guys and Dolls. This piece is much better suited to the Voice in character as Nathan Detroit than to Mr. Entertainment.

The final number is "All About Love," which Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon wrote for Eddie Fisher to perform in Bundle of Joy, the film Fisher made with then-wife Debbie Reynolds. It's a tricky melody, which Davis just about negotiates successfully. In truth, the performance and the Morty Stevens arrangement are better than the song.

The sound on the LP and singles is good; please forgive some slight background noise at the opening of the album. The download includes several short reviews and a vintage ad.

My friend John Morris asked for this transfer a while back; happy to provide it for him and anyone else interested.

New Francescatti Transfer, Plus a Seasonal Bonus

Here is a new transfer of a recording presented on this blog several years ago. I did the recording on request - forgetting about my earlier effort.

Well, this transfer is better, so it's worth a listen for those interested.

The three principal artists on the record all have been featured here several times before - violinist Zino Francescatti and conductors Dimitri Mitropoulos and Eugene Ormandy. The program includes the music of Édouard Lalo and Henri Vieuxtemps.

Zino Francescatti

These are among the finest Francescatti recordings I know. He is entirely in his element in the music of the Frenchman Lalo and the Belgian Vieuxtemps. His gorgeous tone is projected confidently and his control is absolute. Columbia's vivid recordings place him upfront, providing an exceptional sense of his sweet tone and forthright approach - although the sound in the Vieuxtemps is a shade too bright for my taste.

Francescatti performs Vieuxtemps's Concerto No. 4 with the support of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. As far as I can tell, the recording, which dates from April 1957, was mono only, and has not been reissued. This concerto is not often played nowadays, which is a shame. It's a fine work.

Francescatti and Eugene Ormandy

The violinist is supported by the New York Philharmonic under Mitropoulos in Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, also recorded in April 1957. As was common 60 years ago, Francescatti omits the central Intermezzo movement of the five-part suite. This is the mono incarnation of a performance that later was issued in stereo in tandem with the Walton concerto.

The download includes a review of the Vieuxtemps from High Fidelity and a round-up review of Lalo recordings from Stereo Review.

Bonus - A Miracle on Cricket Avenue

David Federman has provided another welcome compilation, the third in his "Cozy Covid Christmas" series. This one, called "Miracle on Cricket Avenue," is a typically wide-ranging exploration of 20th century seasonal music. The 27-selection playlist contains everything from Fats Waller to the Miracles to a Rimsky-Korsakov overture. David's notes are in the download. See the comments for a link.

A Dragnet Christmas

Following up on Kukla, Fran and Ollie, here is a Christmas album from another well-remembered American television program, Jack Webb's Dragnet.

Like Kukla, Fran and Ollie - and many if not most TV shows of the time - Dragnet began as a radio drama. Starring Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday of the Los Angeles Police Department, the program went on the air in 1949. Webb's long-time sidekick Ben Alexander joined in 1951, remaining on the show for many years as Officer Frank Smith. The radio program lasted until 1957 - almost to the end of such programming on that medium.

Jack Webb and Ben Alexander show off their hat collections

The TV program, which began in 1951, was strongly influenced by the pseudo-documentary look of the 1948 film noir The Naked City, and more broadly by the noir genre and its conventions. Friday the character was the offspring of the noir detective - with the significant difference that he was a police figure rather than a private eye. Whereas the police in hard-boiled fiction were often brutal, incompetent and crooked, in Webb's world they are dedicated, selfless professionals. The series is credited with markedly improving the public image of the police.

I am not an expert on Dragnet, but in this episode Webb has no wife and seemingly no life outside of work, whereas Frank Smith does have a home life (and apparently views his wife as a combination cook, housekeeper and secretary). In this regard, Friday is something akin to the the standard hard-boiled detective's persona as a lonely crusader.

Today's post includes the Dragnet Christmas LP shown above (a 10-incher), the TV show itself, and four singles that played off on the popularity of the show.

Dragnet - The Christmas Story

Among the reasons for Dragnet's enduring popularity are the many memes it spawned. Although the program has a reputation for being "realistic," it actually was nearly as stylized as a kabuki drama. Webb is always the narrator, he always starts the program with the same introduction, he leads off each scene by giving its location and the time to the minute (he apparently had quite a memory), the conversations generally end with Friday one-upping the person he is interacting with (as happens in the first scene with both his partner and his boss), and so on.

Perhaps the most important of these stylistic trademarks was Walter Schumann's opening motto-theme: DUM - DE- DUM - DUM, etc. (Schumann apparently pinched this motif from Miklos Rosza's music for The Killers, which led to an eventual legal settlement.) The music was so catchy that it became the basis for a 1953 single by Ray Anthony and several other records, discussed in the next section.

Scene of the 'crime'

Following Anthony's success, Webb and RCA Victor decided that they should get in on the action, preparing this Christmas LP for the 1953 holiday season. "A Christmas Story" is taken from the soundtrack for Dragnet's 1952 Christmas program. The story works very well without any visual element, demonstrating that the series was essentially a filmed radio show, similar to most TV productions of the time.

"A Christmas Story" was a charming tale involving a statue of the infant Jesus stolen from a church's manger scene. Joe and Frank go to great pains to find the statue, only to have it conveniently reappear as they return to tell the good padre they hadn't been able to locate it.

Joe Carioca, Jr. as Paco Mendoza

For a big-city detective team, the two seemingly have little to do besides chasing after a plaster statue. When the program opens, Friday is in the office addressing Christmas cards and Smith is coming in from doing his Christmas shopping.

The performances are good, however, with Webb muttering in his usual monotone, familiar character actors like Herb Vigran turning up in bit roles, and the appealing non-professional Joe Carioca, Jr. as the juvenile "thief," Paco Mendoza.

The download includes both my transfer of the LP and a video of the program itself, courtesy of YouTube, plus the usual scans, photos, and Billboard articles. The bonus singles are detailed below.

Dragnet Singles and Parodies

Unsurprisingly, Webb liked records that promoted his show

The big Dragnet musical success was Ray Anthony's single, which hit number three on the charts in 1953 and sent musicians of all kinds to the studio in an attempt to replicate his success.

Two notable parodies came from the usual sources: Spike Jones and Stan Freberg.

Spike's Dragnet is the more literal, with Jones as Sgt. Jim Saturday parodying many of Dragnet's stylistic tics, while tossing off the usual one-liners and throwing in the usual sound effects. Silly, but enjoyable.

Freberg turns Dragnet into the legend of St. George and the Dragonet. Freberg introduces himself, "This is the countryside. My name is St. George. I am a knight." He interviews a maiden (June Foray) who somehow has acquired a thick Brooklyn accent. Then he talks to a knave (Daws Butler) who sounds like Arnold Stang. It's during this record that Freberg supposedly invented the famous line, "Just the facts, ma'am," even though he never says exactly that phrase - nor was it ever heard on Dragnet. Eventually Daws shows up as the dragon and is arrested for overacting.

Other musicians took up the Dragnet theme as the basis of novelty instrumentals. One such was Cleveland polka maestro Kenny Bass, who uses it as the basis of a lively number that sounds much like any other Slovenian polka you have ever heard, and none the worse for that. Bass intersperses siren-whistle effects and screams in an apparent homage to the TV show.

The 78s all are courtesy of Internet Archive, as remastered by me.

There's one mildly Dragnet-related item on my other blog: Jack Webb is said to have adopted the name Friday in honor of singer Pat Friday (originally Freiday), who had appeared with him on radio. You can find Pat's excellent records here.

Best holiday wishes to all from Jack, Ben, Ray, Spike, Stan, June, Daws, Kenny and Pat - and me, too!

Jack and Ben smoke the sponsor's cigarettes

Two Christmas Compilations, Plus Many Reups

For today's post, David Federman has favored us with two new compilations, both on the theme of a "Cozy Covid Christmas" - "Home Suite Home" and "Holiday Happiness." Plus I have a garland of reups for you as a bonus.

Christmas Compilations

As always, David has put together a couple dozen of the choicest tunes for each set, mostly from the first half of the last century. "This year," he writes, "I'm thinking of being home bound and all the music themed to longing for home, arriving there, and staying put. My main purpose in selection has been to make the most of being shut-in, discovering its blessings, and overcoming its torments." To help in this process, he has put together sides from many of my favorites, including artists like Eddie Miller and Ruby Murray, who have not been featured here before. Also, greats such as David Allyn, Jack Teagarden and Gordon Jenkins make an appearance.

"Holiday Happiness" is just as felicitous. It includes more of my faves, never spotlighted here, including Caspar Reardon and Lee Morse. "This mix is an inverse gift-list of thank you's for the simple, self-renewing things to be thankful for - in a year where every day can be a Christmas celebration," David says.

Links are in the comments. Thanks, David!

Reups

I've mentioned a few of these in recent posts, but only in passing. So I am featuring them again, along with several other requests. Let's take the Christmas-related items first. Click on the titles below to be taken to the original posts.

Beecham Conducts the Nutcracker Suite

Sir Thomas Beecham was a master of this famous score, as shown in this 1953 recording with his Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. "Beecham had a way with this music, and there are few more exhilarating recordings than this version of the 'Waltz of the Flowers,'" I wrote way back when.

Merry Christmas 1952 from Coral Records

This 10-incher had songs from the Ames Brothers, Don Cornell, Teresa Brewer and Johnny Desmond. I commented, "These were the 'NEW Christmas Songs,' as the cover helpfully points out, and were Coral's attempt to generate some holiday cheer (and sales)." Coral put the same comp out the following year.

Call Me Mister

Harold Rome's terrific Broadway revue Call Me Mister and its star Betty Garrett are consistently entertaining. This postwar production had a cast mainly composed of ex-soldiers. The score includes a Christmas song - an ode to conspicuous holiday consumption called "Yuletide, Park Avenue."

Tony Bennett - Because of You

I posted a few of Tony's 10-inch LPs in the early days of the blog, including this one from 1952, with a title tune that was the singer's first huge success. Columbia later issued another LP with the same title, but somewhat different contents. The post includes all the songs contained on the two albums.

Tony Bennett - Alone at Last

This Bennett LP, another 10-incher, dates from several years after Because of You although its contents come from 1950-53. The disc includes such favorites as "Sing You Sinners," "Somewhere Along the Way" and "Stranger in Paradise." All the tunes but one have Percy Faith arrangements.

Tony Bennett - EPs

The final selection comprises two EPs and a bonus 78. On the EPs, Tony warbles the current tunes, including "Something's Gotta Give," "Heart" and his superb rendition of "Blue Velvet." From the 78 we have two unfamiliar songs, "You Could Make Me Smile Again" and "Yesterday's Roses."

Christmas Services at St. Martin, Beuron

The Archabbey of St. Martin at Beuron, near Germany's Black Forest, has been in existence since 1077, first as an Augustinian monastery, then as Benedictine since 1863. Today's post includes music for Christmas services performed by the monks at the Archabbey. and 1959. Included are the First Vesper service, recorded in 1952, and the Third Mass on Christmas Day, from 1959.

The monks sing what is generally called "Gregorian chant," a form of plainchant named for Pope Gregory I (c540-604), although it is now generally thought that this form of chant is from after Gregory's time. Current scholarship suggests that the Gregorian chant tradition goes back to the ninth or tenth century, before the Beuron Archabbey was founded.

The monastery at Beuron

The monks of Beuron adhere to the Solesmes tradition of performance, which comes from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Pierre, Solesmes, in France. Developed in the 19th century, the Solesmes edition was accepted as authoritative by the Roman church during the papacy of Pius X. But scholarship moves along, and today's musicologists have reservations about some aspects of the Solesmes edition.

So while what you will hear on these records sounds ancient, we can't say that it is identical to the Gregorian chant that was sung in medieval times. There is no question, however, that it is surpassingly beautiful and peaceful, well suited to Christmas Day. For me personally, it is uniquely comforting, having been raised with the Latin Rite.

Primae Vesperae cover

The two recordings in today's post come from LPs issued in Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv series: the First Vespers on a 1952 10-inch disc, and the Third Mass on a 1959 12-inch album. Father Dr. Maurus Pfaff directs both performances.

The Primae Vesperae recording is a remastered version of a transfer that I posted in the early days of this blog. Complete scans are now included, including notes in several languages, plus a review from The Gramophone. I've also added scans from the US Decca label's 10-inch release of this performance, also from my collection. Unlike Archiv's characteristically austere design above, Decca artist "Piedra Blanca" (Alex Steinweiss) depicts colorful tolling bells, which you will not hear on the record itself.

Tertia Missa cover

The Tertia Missa recording comes to us courtesy of Internet Archive. It also includes scans of Archiv's elaborate presentation.

The quality of the two recordings is not greatly different, although in 1959 the microphones seem a little closer to the monks. In both cases, the gloriously resonant acoustics of the Abbey add to the atmosphere. I have added a mild ambient stereo effect to the sound to bring out that characteristic. The 1959 recording was issued in real stereo, but the transfer here is from the mono edition.

Christmas at Temple Chuch London

London's historic Temple Church was founded by the Knights Templar, with the church building itself dedicated in 1185. Its choral tradition dates back to 1842.

The church choir was under the direction of Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941) from 1898 until about 1920. He was succeeded by Dr. (later Sir) George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987) as organist and director of the choir. Thalben-Ball was to remain in the post for nearly 60 years. (Sources differ on when Thalben-Ball took over, I have read 1919, 1923 and 1924.)

Temple Church, London

Temple Church, located in Fleet Street, was badly damaged in the Battle of Britain, and was not restored until the mid-1950s. The choristers continued to sing in the shell each week until the restoration was complete.

Temple Church blitz damage

Today's post contains a 1959 album of carols from the choir and Thalben-Ball, plus three earlier singles, including the famous 1927 recording of Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer," with treble (boy soprano) Ernest Lough as soloist.

The Christmas Carols LP

George Thalben-Ball

The LP of carols, dating from 1959, provides a good example of the lovely acoustic of Temple Church. The album opens with the thunderous sound of Thalben-Ball intoning "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on the church's 1924 Harrison & Harrison organ. The choir entrance is distant (it is apparently a processional), drawing nearer as the carol proceeds.

The opening carol is followed by one of the two spoken passages, Robert Herrick's "What Sweeter Music," presented by the self-assured Richard Brown, presumably one of the choristers.

Among his selections for the balance of this generous program, Thalben-Ball included four arrangements by his predecessor Walford Davies, along with his own arrangement of "The First Nowell" and his setting of "Gloria in Excelsis Deo," which concludes the LP.

Robin Lough

The treble soloist for the performance of "Three Kings" was Robin Lough, the son of Ernest Lough, who was featured on the 1927 recording mentioned above and discussed below. Ernest often performed with the choir in later years as a bass-baritone, and is in the ensemble for the 1959 recording. Robin later became a film and television producer and director (at least I think it is the same Robin Lough).

The Temple Choir was not as refined as the contemporary Choir of King's College, Cambridge, nor are the arrangements as elaborate. For example, there is no descant in "O Come, All Ye Faithful," possibly because the boys could not manage it. Even so, this is a well-chosen, well-presented and atmospheric program.

Singles from Temple Church

I've added three related singles from Temple Church to round out the program. From 1931, there is a selection of four carols, with the excellent treble Dennis Barthel the soloist on "Lullay My Liking." Also included are Thalben-Ball's "There Is No Rose of Such Virtue" and his arrangement of a "Christmas Lullaby."

Thalben-Ball made many recordings as an organist. The second single, dating from 1951, couples his own "Elegy" with the "Introduction and Variations on an Ancient Polish Noël," written by his fellow organist Alexandre Guilmant.

EP reissue of "Hear My Prayer"

The final single is not strictly a Christmas item - it is the recording of "Hear My Prayer (O for the Wings of a Dove)" by treble Ernest Lough and the Temple Church Choir, dating from 1927. This is the record whose initial and enduring popularity is said to have made the choir famous.

"Hear My Prayer" comes from a transfer found on the UK's CHARM site. The first two singles are remasters from lossless transfer found on Internet Archive.

The download includes the original HMV LP cover (my transfer was from the US Angel equivalent), an EP cover, two ads, a High Fidelity review, plus the 78 labels and the EP cover shown above. The sound is generally very good, although "Hear My Prayer" is a little dim.

Nutcrackers with Van Kempen and Lehmann

The Pacific Northwest Ballet production

For those of us who can never have too many Nutcracker Suites, here are two from leading mid-century conductors, Paul van Kempen and Fritz Lehmann.

Both maestros chose the suite as constructed by Tchaikovsky himself, designated as Op. 71a. It includes the Miniature Overture, the March, the Dance of the Super-Plum Fairy, the Russian, Arabian and Chinese Dances, the Dance of the Reed Flutes and the Waltz of the Flowers. 

Also on this blog, Op. 71a can be found as performed by the Chicago Symphony and Frederick Stock and the Royal Philharmonic and Sir Thomas Beecham. (The latter is newly remastered.) Finally, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops came up with a different and equally delightful Nutcracker Suite No. 2 in 1949, available here.

More about the Van Kempen and Lehmann recordings below.

Paul van Kempen and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra

Paul van Kempen

The Dutch conductor Paul van Kempen (1893-1955) spent most of his career working in Germany, a fact that made him less than popular when he returned to the Netherlands for conducting engagements after the war. He was the principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra from 1934-42, making this set for Deutsche Grammophon in 1939.

Despite being the second-ranked orchestra in its home city (the best known is the Staatskapelle Dresden), the Philharmonic did well here, as did DG's sound engineers. I would only question the leaden tempo for the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

This transfer comes from what I believe is a postwar pressing on DG's main label; the original issue was on its Polydor imprint.

Fritz Lehmann and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra

Fritz Lehmann

Fritz Lehmann (1904-56) was another busy conductor who died too young. An enthusiast of Baroque music and early advocate of period performance practices, much of his recorded legacy is from the classical and Romantic periods. DG kept him busy but he also recorded for other labels.

This Nutcracker Suite comes from a July 1951 DG session with the Munich Philharmonic. As with the Dresden Philharmonic, the Munich ensemble may be the second-best known orchestra in its home city. The Bavarian State Radio Orchestra perhaps has a higher profile internationally.

EP cover

Like Van Kempen, Lehmann was a highly skilled conductor whose performance with the excellent Munich orchestra will give much pleasure.

This transfer is from the original 78s; DG also issued the set on EPs and LPs with a variety of colorful covers that you can view in the download. One is at right.

Both of these sets were recent addition to the lossless files that can be found on Internet Archive. As always, I've cleaned them up for presentation here.

Lehman Engel Conducts Christmas Carols

Lehman Engel

Lehman Engel (1910-82) was a well-regarded composer, arranger and conductor mainly remembered for his Tony-award winning work on musicals, although his background was much broader. He first came to my notice through the series of musicals he recorded in the studio for Columbia in the 1950s. I remember picking up used copies of his recordings of Babes in Arms and The Boys from Syracuse, among others. These single-disc abridgments are still among my favorite records.

Engel also conducted several albums of Christmas music. One such LP - featuring Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi of the Met - appeared here a number of years ago. Today we have two choral albums that he conducted, one near the beginning of his career, the other during his later tenure at Columbia records.

Let's look at the latter collection first.

Columbia Choristers - Christmas Hymns and Carols

This 10-inch LP was made with a studio group called the "Columbia Choristers". It dates from 1951, a typically busy year for Engel. In the studio, he also had conducted the first semi-complete recording of Porgy and Bess for Columbia. On Broadway, he provided the vocal arrangements for and conducted Bless You All, a short-lived musical by Harold Rome, with whom he was closely associated. (Engel conducted the cast album of Rome's 1946 revue Call Me Mister, which can be found here in a newly remastered version. The score includes a holiday song, the droll "Yuletide, Park Avenue.") Later in 1951, Engel provided incidental music for a Broadway production of Shaw's Saint Joan.

The Christmas LP is mainly composed of the standard holiday numbers, all of the more reverent variety, but does include several less-heard items among the old favorites. These include the Cornish "Holy Day Holly Carol," Gustav Holst's "Mid-Winter" and "Lullay My Liking" (not as well known then as now), Edmund Rubbra's "The Virgin's Cradle Hymn" and Peter Warlock's remarkable "Corpus Christi." (The latter carol can be heard in two vintage recordings on my other blog.)

The Columbia Choristers are an excellent small group, with fine ensemble, intonation, blend and diction. They very much put me in mind of the Robert Shaw Singers, so much so that I would not be surprised to learn that Engel contracted with that group for this session. Shaw himself was under contract with RCA Victor, which was to issue his second Christmas album the following year.

This 10-inch LP is well filled, with more music than many 12-inch LPs. In fact, Columbia would reissue it several years later as a 12-inch LP (cover at left) - with two fewer selections. This is the only time I can remember when a 10-inch album had more content than its 12-inch equivalent. My friend Ernie has featured the 12-inch record on his blog before - the disc came out on the budget Harmony label and for that issue the "Columbia Choristers" were transformed into the "Harmony Choristers".

Indeed, trusty Ernie came to me rescue for this post by lending me his transfer so that I could patch some noisy parts and skips in my dub. I even pinched one whole track from him. Thanks, pal! I should mention that Ernie is brightening up the interwebs as usual with his holiday selections. This year he is featuring large numbers of unusual singles from the vast offerings of the Internet Archive. That's a repository I mine myself, finding such treasures as the album below.

The Madrigal Singers - Songs for Christmas

Dating from 1937, the Madrigal Singers' album is actually a much earlier effort than the Columbia Choristers' release. Engel was just 27 years old, but already had compiled an impressive resume. Three years before he had written incidental music for the Broadway production of Sean O'Casey's Within the Gates, following that credit with music for T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.

By 1937, Engel was recording both Christmas and contemporary music for Columbia, including the six seasonal songs contained in this album and a disc of choral music by Charles Ives and William Schuman, which I may share later.

Engel was consistent in his selections for the 1937 and 1951 compilations. Only "Jingle Bells" and "The Quilting Party (Seeing Nellie Home)" [is that a Christmas song?] were not to be included in the later album.

The Madrigal Singers weren't as well drilled as the Columbia Choristers, but the performances are pleasing even so. The recording is a trifle wooly but good enough.

The download includes a few contemporary reviews along with the transfers. The New Records was unimpressed with the Madrigal Singers album, saying that "the snap and the spirit of Christmas is (sic) missing." The New York Times, however, though that the Columbia Choristers "sing well." I like both sets, but the later one is undoubtedly superior and is a favorite of mine.