The Quebec Celebration Gospel Choir
Noel Divin (2011)
http://www.gospelcelebration.qc.ca/
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.
The inter-cultural Quebec Celebration Gospel Choir sounds ready-made to sing Christmas songs.
The group’s new album, Noel Divin, proves that it’s so.
If you have not heard the Quebec Celebration Gospel Choir (Le Choeur Gospel Celebration), it has a hall-filling energy and depth similar to the Oslo Gospel Choir or the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, complete with Hawkins-style contemporary gospel arrangements delivered with delicately lush orchestration.
The dozen songs and carols on Noel Divin are sung in French and English. While the group’s harmonies and contrapuntal singing demonstrate tight discipline and sophistication, the brightness of their tone brings earthy comfort and joy. Michael McElroy, Buryl Red and the extraordinary Joseph Joubert arranged the selections, which include a subtly rhythmic pop treatment of the French version of “O Holy Night” (“Minuit, Chretiens”), full-bodied and acoustic gospelized versions of “Away in a Manger” (I prefer the acoustic), and a soulful “Joy to the World.” The classic “Go Tell it on the Mountain” gets a suitably boisterous reading.
“Noel, Noel” includes vocal crescendos akin to a Richard Smallwood work, though it just missed perfection by not including one hair-raising one at the conclusion. The passionately hushed “Venez Divin Messie” also demonstrates fealty to Smallwood in its dramatic flourishes.
The soloists are strong, with the group’s founder, soprano Fernande Angers, sounding brilliant on “Ave Maria.” The musicians are top-quality, and Marie-Josee Pelletier, the choir’s most able directress, makes the choir sound merry as Christmas. Noel!
Four of Five Stars
Picks: “Joy to the World,” “Noel, Noel.”
Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.