The Apple Tree: Christmas with Seraphic Fire Seraphic Fire

• 1 01 I Saw Three Ships 02:20
• 2 02 Adam Lay Ybounden 02:14
• 3 03 Adam Lay Ybounden 03:35
• 4 04 Maria durch ein Dornwald ging 03:55
• 5 05 Twas The Moon of Wintertime 04:16
• 6 06 The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came 03:18
• 7 07 All Beautiful the March of Days 03:16
• 8 08 In Dulci Jubilo 02:53
• 9 09 Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head 04:03
• 10 10 I Wonder as I Wander 03:01
• 11 11 Jesús En Pesebre 04:09
• 12 12 Jesus Christ the Apple Tree 05:32
• 13 13 Away In A Manger 04:34
• 14 14 Mary Had a Baby 03:28
• 15 15 Ain’-a that Good News! 02:00
• Total Runtime 52:34

Info for The Apple Tree: Christmas with Seraphic Fire

For nearly 20 years, Seraphic Fire’s Christmas concerts have heralded the change of seasons for our audiences in South Florida, and there is no piece more associated with these yearly musical celebrations than Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. Written by Elizabeth Poston, English composer and purported World War II spy for the Allies, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree takes a Federal-era American text and clothes it in music so simple, that it could easily be an 18th-century colonial hymn. With its elegant treble-voice verse and luxurious ending canon, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree has become an indispensable part of Christmastide for thousands of our friends in our hometown of Miami, FL, and beyond.

With Poston’s masterpiece as our polestar, this new holiday recording by Seraphic Fire celebrates the simple and the authentic. From Praetorious’s double choir setting of In dulci jubilo and Gottfried Wolter’s spine-tingling Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, to familiar American carols arranged by composer contemporaries of Seraphic Fire (including Susan LaBarr, Edwin Fissinger, Timothy Takach, and Seraphic Fire’s founder Patrick Dupre Quigley), this new recording hopes to introduce new settings of old melodies that will hopefully become instant classics in your Christmas soundscape. Each Seraphic Fire Christmas program is special, and we hope that The Apple Tree: Christmas with Seraphic Fire will continue our tradition of bringing peaceful, tuneful contemplation to our beloved audiences, near and far. (James K. Bass)

Seraphic Fire
Patrick Dupre Quigley, director

Seraphic Fire
s an ensemble dedicated to the concert performance of the breadth of history’s musical works for the human voice. Lauded by Gramophone for its “mellifluous, crystalline artistry,” Seraphic Fire has gained an international reputation for dynamic, cutting-edge, and historically informed programming that encompasses both secular and sacred literature. The ensemble’s roster is populated by performers, teachers, and scholars who represent the best of the American school of vocal and instrumental training. Established in 2002, Seraphic Fire is led by artistic director Patrick Dupre Quigley.

Throughout its two-decade history, the ensemble has commissioned and premiered works by American composers including Alvaro Bermudez, Shawn Crouch, Douglas Cuomo, Sydney Guillaume, James Kallembach, Susan LaBarr, Ileana Perez Velazquez, Jake Runestad, and Christopher Theofanidis. With their newest release, Ordo virtutum, Seraphic Fire has released 16 recordings on its Seraphic Fire Media label. Several of the ensemble’s recordings have topped the classical music charts. Two—Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem and A Seraphic Fire Christmas—have received GRAMMY® nominations.

This album contains no booklet.