Christmas cantata Jan Mulder SATB, soprano (soloist), flute and organ/piano

Review in Vocaal June 2022

Practically everyone is familiar with the musician Jan Mulder. This successful pianist/composer has been working in the United States since 2007. He has already released many CDs in collaboration with various orchestras. We know him mainly as an arranger/composer of melodious melodies. His music has similarities in style with what Louis van Dijk and Dick Bakker did in the 80s under the title Musica di Gloria with sacred repertoire.

Less well-known is the fact that Mulder also wrote a beautiful compact Christmas cantata in nine parts. He did this in 2004 when he was still active as a conductor of various choirs. The cantata describes the Christmas story in a nutshell. The Dutch texts are actually taken directly from the Christmas Gospel. Well-known phrases such as 'weest niet bevweesd' (the Angel from the story) and 'Eer zij God in de hoog' (Engelenzang) are reviewed. The accompaniment of this Christmas cantata can be performed on organ or piano. Incidentally, there are also various string accompaniments in circulation in which four strings can be added.

The difficulty level is on the easy side without the work losing quality. It is nice that the cantata is very to the point. Moreover, it is useful to know that there is also an edition that is notated a semitone lower. This also brings the work within reach of choirs that have difficulty with very high parts. The duration of the cantata is approximately 10 minutes.