Best Christmas Carol CD?

[Nick Armstrong]

I know it doesn't exactly fit the bill/requirement but this got a very good press hereabouts last year. IMHO most excellent

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Terra-Pax-Ch...3986703&sr=8-1

This has remained an annual favourite since anton’s excellent recommendation and had several outings (notably on the road) this past couple of weeks. The Finzi and Vaughan Williams are seasonal essentials

[ardcarp]

Played several times each year: Christmas Through the Ages https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...rough-the-ages

A wonderful selection sung by different choirs from different times and in different styles.

[Barbirollians]

I have three Francis Jackson’s York Minster choir album on Chandos recommended fervently by ferney, A 1984 king’s College record on Decca and the Sixteen’s double album on Coro.

[Triforium]

Ah, zombie thread, i still listen to these two CDs every Christmas - my post from...10 years ago... - http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...038#post230038

[ardcarp]

A CD has been lurking on our shelves, but somehow missed for six years. It's called A Very English Christmas and consists entirely of 20thC originals and arrangements by the likes of Simon Preston, Peter Warlock, John Gardner, Arnold Bax and others. Many are little-known and deserve to be explored! All performed superbly by Tenebrae c.2015.

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/tenebrae-a-very-english-christmas/0635212090220.html?utm_campaign=eq_whs_176013&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=awin&awc=3017_1672424275_7a996b740456603de83e7b7c0561e69c

Mrs A and I spent an hour entranced by giving it a spin.

[Keraulophone]

20thC originals and arrangements by the likes of Simon Preston, Peter Warlock, John Gardner, Arnold Bax and others. Many are little-known and deserve to be explored!

That excellent CD includes several seldom performed carols by Simon Preston. I perused the Christmas music lists of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford and Westminster Abbey for anything from his pen but found nothing from the resident choirs. I regard this as quite shameful in the year of his death. In our Eucharist on Christmas Day, Truro sang his relatively popular, but still not performed enough, arrangement of I Saw Three Ships from 1965 when he was ADoM at the Abbey. It's absolutely brilliant, as was its creator.
.

[cloughie]

As in 2012 I still go for the James Galway and Hely-Hutchinson - my collection of Christmas CDs grows by the year - usually assisted by out of season Charity Shop purchases and I’m short of a good compilation, but am I the only one on the forum that loses interest in Christmas music after 25th - maybe because I spend a lot of time singing in Advent, to say nothing of choir rehearsals starting in October!

[jonfan]

I try, with some success, to concentrate on Advent up to Christmas Eve and then one can enjoy the Christmas music for the 12 days.
A useful aid to this discipline is Clare College’s series of discs, each one devoted to a season. One each for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany; then so on through the major festivals up to All Saints’. Very well produced by John Rutter.
Our orchestra has just purchased newly made parts for Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony, too late for this year. A terrific piece for full orchestra.
PS. For a mixture of the light and serious, immaculately performed, I go to Yulefest from Trinity College Choir, Cambridge.

[Dave2002]

I hardly got into the carol/Christmas music thing this year - due to various other activities and events. I'm still interested in the discussion here, and may pick up a few ideas for more to buy ready for next year.

We do have a bit of a collection - including Mannheim Steamroller - though perhaps our original discs have been lost. We still have some.

I rather liked Kathleen Battle's carol CD in the past, though now I find her voice a little wavery. See ASIN : B000002ROL That's the one with Leonard Slatkin.

Another one of interest is Ryba's Czech Christmas Mass - there are several versions available.

[gradus]

I've grown increasingly fond of Warlock's Bethlehem Down since first I heard it at Truro Cathedral a few years ago.

[Keraulophone]

I've grown increasingly fond of Warlock's Bethlehem Down since first I heard it at Truro Cathedral a few years ago.

It's also one of my all-time favourites, and still in the repertoire at Truro. Should you like to hear us sing it again, we recorded it back in the Robert Sharpe era on one of several Christmas discs recorded over the last thirty years. Warlock's Benedicamus Domino is a rousing counterpart.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7968487--when-he-is-king

[ardcarp]

and then one can enjoy the Christmas music for the 12 days.

Yes, a great joy. Sadly, these days Christmas ends rather abruptly on Dec 26 as far as the High Street and people's personal observances are concerned.

[gradus]

It's also one of my all-time favourites, and still in the repertoire at Truro. Should you like to hear us sing it again, we recorded it back in the Robert Sharpe era on one of several Christmas discs recorded over the last thirty years. Warlock's Benedicamus Domino is a rousing counterpart.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...hen-he-is-king

Terrific, thanks for posting the recording.

[Dave2002]

OK Christmas has passed, but I noticed this very recent release - https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...istmas-vespers

Maybe one to buy now, and keep for the end of the year - or have sneak previews.

[ardcarp]

While much of the world celebrates Christmas the entire month of December, if not earlier, the liturgical Christmas season begins on Christmas Day, December 25, 2022, and concludes on January 8, 2023. So keep playing your joyful Christmas music and leave up your Christmas tree and decorations until the celebration of Epiphany!

Quote from: https://hallow.com/blog/schedule-cat...season-octave/