Move over Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The Cincinnati May Festival has released its first album. The CD, showcasing the chorus, is a mostly a cappella collection of Christmas favorites, and it is a winner.

        Christmas with The Cincinnati May Festival Chorus (Cincinnati Musical Festival Association, $15, 4 stars) is varied, engaging and joyous. Of its 20 selections, you may be tempted to sing along with familiar carols (with organist Heather MacPhail) such as “Joy to the World” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

        There are many exquisite performances, and Robert Porco, director of choruses, has honed his singers to a polished ensemble. His touch is everywhere: in the pointed articulation of “Carol of the Bells,” and in the beauty of expression of “Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming” or Franz Biehl's “Ave Maria.”

        The album is a good balance of the jubilant (“Masters in This Hall”) and the poignant (Elizabeth Poston's “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree”).

        Each song has a unique character. “In the Bleak Mid-Winter” (Christina Rossetti/Gustav Holst) is powerful for its sheer simplicity. Morten Lauridsen's “O Magnum Mysterium,” which interweaves long, legato lines in close harmony, is lush and atmospheric.

        The album, recorded by Telarc for the May Festival and funded by the Corbett Foundation, ends of course with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

        Sold at Music Hall box office; Barnes & Noble Kenwood; Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Norwood; Borders Books & Music, Tri-County; and St. Francis Bookshop, 1618 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine.
       

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