Favourite Christmas Music

[teamsaint]

The Cornelius?Thought somebody had mentioned it further up the thread, but perhaps not. Very lovely indeed.

[Petrushka]

The Cornelius?Thought somebody had mentioned it further up the thread, but perhaps not. Very lovely indeed.

Yes, the Cornelius was a great favourite of mine during my Parish Church choir days now over 40 years ago. Our bass soloist had a wonderful voice and this could have been written for him.

Another personal favourite and a rousing good sing was Holst's arrangement of Personent Hodie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM6ZhvU4nYU

Yet another was Torches by John Joubert (my old choirmaster was a friend of Joubert). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87m1G0tcHEY

[ardcarp]

Calibs. I did say I was ambivalent about it...and also that the putative film would be cheesy, not the piece. This is strange coincidence, but I've just got back from an Advent concert in a very resonant RC priory oop north and the Sandstrom was on the menu. It is 'effective' and the large audience was clearly spellbound..

[Nick Armstrong]

Calibs. I did say I was ambivalent about it...and also that the putative film would be cheesy, not the piece.

Indeed you did. I just fancied a mild festive ruck about it

This is strange coincidence, but I've just got back from an Advent concert in a very resonant RC priory oop north and the Sandstrom was on the menu. It is 'effective' and the large audience was clearly spellbound..

Serendipitous.

I like your inverted commas round 'effective'... It's a word about which I'm suspicious, I always feel slightly guilty using it as it is so often meaningless. "It's a really effective image" - I suppose it means 'has the effect intended' or 'produces an effect' - but it never gets round to saying what that is.

However re: the Sandström, I know what you mean

[Lateralthinking1]

Another suggestion:

Daniel Pinkham - Christmas Cantata - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9pnolfMik

Particularly the second movement.

[ardcarp]

May I suggest a whole carol book? It is called Sing Nowell and was (I think... 'cos I'm away from home and speaking from memory) published by Novello. It was blue and had a white angel on the front. It has some really lovely carols of the non-congregational sort (including...again 'I think'...Britten's 'O lift your little pinky'). But two which I really like and which seem to have fallen from the repertoire are Peter Aston's Dormi Jesu and Peter Racine Fricker's A Babe is Born.

The more recent Novello carol book (forgotten the name, red, two volumes, ed. William Llewellyn) has John Byrt's Both All and Some. A great piece.

I'm not sure which book (if any) Judith Weir's Illuminare appears in, but IMO it's one of the most original carols to emerge in the late 20th C.

Sorry this is a rambling post. Just thought it's time I contributed something positive instead of sniping from the sidelines. Put it down to Advent grumpiness.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Eine, did they enjoy it? It is great fun and very well done. To my mind, it could hardly be pitched any better. I wonder though if there is a place for it in the modern era? My guess is that there is because young children have fewer preconceived ideas.

They are enjoying it very much. As for preconceived ideas, I completely agree. It's a pity the SingUp people have such a preconceived agenda. A good idea in principle has been hijacked by perceptions of "fashion".

[makropulos]

Johann Schelle: Actus Musicus auf Weyh-Nachten and his spectactular arrangements for multiple choirs and instruments of Christmas chorales. All on a fabulous Deutsche Harmonia Mundi CD with Musica Fiata and La Capella Ducale cond. Roland Wilson. Schelle was Cantor at St Thomas Leipzig from 1667 to 1701.

Makes a glorious alternative to some of the other incredible Christmas music to come out Leipzig a few decades later :)

[bach736]

Many great and timely suggestions so far - for which many thanks.

A personal favourite of mine - and one which precisely encapsulates the meaning of Christmas - is Stanley Vann's setting of 'There is no rose'. A much treasured manuscript copy gleaned from the St John's College library.

[Jamiewhall]

May I suggest a whole carol book? It is called Sing Nowell and was (I think... 'cos I'm away from home and speaking from memory) published by Novello. It was blue and had a white angel on the front. It has some really lovely carols of the non-congregational sort (including...again 'I think'...Britten's 'O lift your little pinky'). But two which I really like and which seem to have fallen from the repertoire are Peter Aston's Dormi Jesu and Peter Racine Fricker's A Babe is Born.

The more recent Novello carol book (forgotten the name, red, two volumes, ed. William Llewellyn) has John Byrt's Both All and Some. A great piece.

I'm not sure which book (if any) Judith Weir's Illuminare appears in, but IMO it's one of the most original carols to emerge in the late 20th C.

Sorry this is a rambling post. Just thought it's time I contributed something positive instead of sniping from the sidelines. Put it down to Advent grumpiness.

I don't know if you're talking about an earlier volume, (blue/white angel) but NOËL! by Novello certainly contains Weir's Illuminate. There are a further two volumes available, NOËL!3 being only a couple of months old. I have this one in front of me and it contains some lovely stuff. Notably some beautiful offerings by Francis Pott, Richard Allain, RR Bennett and James MacMillan. You might even notice a tiny contribution by yours truly! :-)
Best, J

[MickyD]

I'm cheating a bit here, as there is no choir involved, but one of my favourite Christmas CDs is the lovely "Douze Noels" for organ by Louis Daquin. You can do no better, in my opinion, than acquire Christopher Herrick's excellent disc on Hyperion, now at budget price. Beautiful French 18th century pastoral music!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daquin-Douze-No%C3%ABls-Christopher-Herrick/dp/B000VIFLOQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1355749639&sr=1-1

[ardcarp]

There are a further two volumes available, NOËL!3 being only a couple of months old. I have this one in front of me and it contains some lovely stuff. Notably some beautiful offerings by Francis Pott, Richard Allain, RR Bennett and James MacMillan. You might even notice a tiny contribution by yours truly! :-)

I shall rush out and buy it at once!

[Jamiewhall]

I shall rush out and buy it at once!

[clive heath]

Belated addition to my christmas favourites in the popular arena and discovered on my son's Rat Pack Christmas CD (boggle away!) but please don't click on the link if you don't like
1) Sammy Davis Jnr
2) children's choirs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFKb8ukBQCo

and there's even some Hammond Organ!!

[Nick Armstrong]

Belated addition to my christmas favourites in the popular arena and discovered on my son's Rat Pack Christmas CD (boggle away!)

No boggling here! It's magnificent! I put 2 Christmas CDs in the car system for travelling on 25th - the Finzi "In Terra Pax" disc on Naxos, and that 'Rat Pack' album.

The former was on when we drove to Christmas lunch - the three Howells carols and the Finzi piece itself are so lovely - that orchestral intro to the Finzi...

And then the Rat Pack accompanied us back home at night. "Baby. it's cold outside" with Dean Martin was a favourite - but yes, those kids singing "Feliz navidad" etc etc made us giggle!

Great stuff!!