Dashing Vol. 3
Navona, 2022
8/10
Listen to Dashing Vol 3: Even More Sounds Of The Season
The festive series that is Dashing continues, and there’s plenty of new compositions and arrangements of holiday songs we all know and love to be enjoyed.
John Wineglass’ “The Toy Factory: Little Elves, Fairies and Snowmen” starts the listen with the Filharmonie Brno and Pavel Šnajdr’s conducting making for a busy and very precise chamber display of fluid winds, playful percussion and booming brass, and “Hodie”, by Carol Barnett, follows with the Kühn Choir of Prague’s harmonic voices under Lenka Navrátilová’s skilled conducting.
Further on, “Remembering December” places Gavin Frazier Brown on piano and Diana Cantrell on vocals for the poetic, expressive intimacy, while “O Tannenbaum” is populated with Vox Futura’s sublime singing and Andrew Shenton’s conducting for the very pretty, stirring album highlight.
Making our way towards the end, Richard E. Brown’s “Gesu Bambino” benefits much from the JFO Brass Trio and Roman Buchal’s well timed trumpet for the cautious interplay, and “O Holy Night, O Glorious Light” exits with the Kühn Choir of Prague, Lenka Navrátilová (conductor), Marcel Javorček (piano) and Walter Hofbauer (trumpet) layering the finish with a dreamy elegance that’s quite powerful.
A collection of songs that can be celebrated all year, the orchestras, ensembles, and choirs make for much diversity and even more skill, and just might have you wishing for a blanket of snow to cover the ground…
Travels well with: Vincent Ho- Sandman’s Castle; Duo Sequenza- Yes… It’s Still A Thing!