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.