VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Verbum caro factum est - a Christmas Greeting Bach Collegium Japan Chorus / Masaaki Suzuki (direction), Masato Suzuki (organ) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Oct/2018 ] "The performances are typically classy, and punctuated by a selection of Daquin's 'Noels' for solo organ, played with peppery registrations by Suzuki" BBC Music |
J.S. BACH
A Bach Christmas: Magnificat, BWV 243a / Cantata: Christen, atzet diesen Tag / etc Catherine Bott & Elizabeth Scholl (sopranos) Christopher Robson (countertenor) Paul Agnew & Andrew King (tenors) / New London Consort / Philip Pickett [ ABC Philips Eloquence / CD - released 1/Dec/2005 ] "Marvellous life-enhancing music ... can be enjoyed at any time of the year, not just at Christmas" (MusicWeb Feb 2006) |
TRADITIONAL
Christmas at Westminster Abbey Choir of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston, with Christopher Herrick, organ [ Deutsche Grammophon Eloquence / CD - released 10/Dec/2017 ] "The Choir of Westminster Abbey is on its toes in a lively mixture of old and new, familiar and less so." Gramophone |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Christmas a Cappella II Musica Sacra conducted by Indra Hughes [ Atoll Records New Zealand / CD - released 20/Nov/2007 ] This is the second programme of unaccompanied Christmas choral music performed by one of New Zealand's most successful choirs and includes a wide variety of pieces: the well known and the unfamiliar. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Christmas Spectacular [includes John Rutter - Gloria] Musica Sacra conducted by Indra Hughes [ Atoll Records New Zealand / CD - released 10/Nov/2011 ] "What sets this stunning CD apart..is that it avoids the often over-reverberant, stained-glass window sound-world of distant, ethereal Cathedral organs, boys and men choir and liturgical carol services." Martin Setchell writing in ORGANZ |
Various Artists
The Best Ever: Christmas [ Rhino / 2 CD - released 15/Nov/2017 ] The Best Ever Christmas collection features 40 seasonal favourites in an amazing value package. It includes a selection of classic songs from huge artists such as Chris Rea, East 17, Frankie Valli and The Overtones. |
SCHUTZ / PURCELL / GABRIELI / MONTEVERDI / HASSLER / etc
Glad Tidings: A Baroque Christmas London String Players / Philip Jones Brass Ensemble / Camden Wind Ensemble / Roger Norrington [ Decca Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] |
TRADITIONAL
Christmas with the Academy Academy & Chorus of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] The story of the birth of Jesus more than two thousand years ago has been the source of inspiration for countless poets and musicians, as well as practitioners of other forms of art. The infant, born of a virgin in a lowly cattle shed, because there... |
GABRIELI / BASSANO / MONTEVERDI
Christmas In Venice Monteverdi Choir / Philip Jones Brass Ensemble / John Eliot Gardiner [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 28/Aug/2014 ] Jean-Baptiste Duval of the Venetian Republic's French Embassy records that on Christmas Eve 1607, Midnight Mass in St. Mark's was celebrated by the light of more than one thousand candles, sixty huge torches and silver lamps. He counted no less than... |
Susan Boyle
Home For Christmas [ Sony / CD - released 22/Nov/2013 ] A selection of traditional Christmas songs that her fans old & new will love. Includes duets with elvis Presley (Oh Come, All ye Faithful), and Johnny Mathis (When A Child Is Born). |
Various Artists
Christmas All Over The World [ Sony Classical / CD - released 18/Nov/2002 ] |
Various Artists
Simply Christmas [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Nov/2006 ] |
Baroque Christmas: Sanctus
[ Alto / CD - released 3/Dec/2021 ] "this is a studiously well-curated programme (by Jeffrey Skidmore) of music for the Nativity, almost all from the baroque period. In our view It provides a superior and enjoyable listening experience for Christmas-time" (MusicalMerit) "Recommended... |
Christmas Poetry & Prose: Read by Great Voices
[ Alto / CD - released 3/Dec/2021 ] "Few things capture Christmas as well as poetry, and many have become standard, including ones whose verses became carols too" Readers include: Alec Guinness, Robert Donat, Richard Burton, Dulcie Gray, Dylan Thomas Robert Frost, Annette... |
TRADITIONAL / VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Carols From King's College, Cambridge Choir of King's College, Cambridge [ Warner Classics / CD - released 18/Nov/2022 ] A wonderful collection of 15 of the favourite and most popular carols for the Christmas season, performed by the world-famous Choir of King's College, Cambridge. |
TRADITIONAL
Christmas-Time Carols from King's College Cambridge Choir of King's College Cambridge, David Willcocks [ Griffin / CD - released 25/Nov/2013 ] The earliest 15th century carols were based on simple folk melodies, with texts added representing Christmas ideas, but it was a long gap then until the Victorians, followed shortly by great 20th Century composers (Vaughan Williams, Holst etc),... |
ANONYMOUS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Canto Noel - Polyphonic Christmas hymns from the Middle Ages Coro de Monjes de la Abadía de Santo, Domingo de Silos [ EMI Classics / 2 CD - released 10/Jun/2016 ] This album brings together a remarkable collection of Christmas chants which were recorded by the choir of monks from the Santo Domingo de Silos Monastery. All of these chants belong to the sacred repertoire. Pilgrims to Santiago would hear and sing... |
ANONYMOUS
Ecole de Notre Dame: Mass for Christmas Day Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'Abord / CD - released 10/Feb/2011 ] Marcel Peres and Ensemble Organum, relive Mass for Christmas Day as it was sung in the prestigious setting of the School of Notre Dame in paris, the cradle of western polyphony. |
TRADITIONAL
The Three Tenors Christmas Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti / Vienna Symphony, Steven Mercurio [ Bank Austria / Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Nov/2010 ] Resplendent in voice and manner, José Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti deliver 21 songs of traditional sacred music and secular numbers in a remarkable 1999 live recording. |
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS
Christmas at King's College Cambridge King's College Choir, Cambridge / David Willcocks [ ALTO / CD - released 15/Nov/2012 ] 'The number of boy choristers was fixed at 16 by King Henry in 1453 and it is 16 still. While originally there were six lay clerks, there are now 12 choral scholars, who are undergraduates of the college studying for degrees. (The Director) therefore... |