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TALLIS / RUTTER / PRAETORIUS / HOLST/ HANDEL etc
Christmas The Gesualdo Six / Owain Park [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] From the timeless plainchant 'Veni Emmanuel' via Jonathan Harvey to a riotous 'Jingle bells': Owain Park presents a programme of Christmas treats which effortlessly spans the centuries. |
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J. S. BACH
The Passions / Christmas Oratorio / B Minor Mass / Motets Agnes Giebel, Helmut Krebs, etc / Heinrich Schutz-Choir, Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, Fritz Werner [ Warner Classics / 10 CD Box Set - released 25/Oct/2004 ] |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Sacred Treasures of Christmas The London Oratory Schola Cantorum / Charles Cole [ Hyperion / CD - released 30/Oct/2020 ] A celebration of Christmas from the Nativity through to Candlemas, in music from across sixteenth-century Europe: Renaissance polyphony at its finest. |
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HANDEL
Messiah (Complete oratorio arranged by Mozart) Audrey Michael, Magali Dami, Jard van Nes, Hans Peter Blochwitz / Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de Lausanne, Michel Corboz [ Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 6/Apr/2009 ] 'There is much to praise in Corboz's realization of Mozart's revision… he has most appealing soloists… the orchestral playing is very stylish…the recording is truthful and well balanced and the acoustics of the Casino de Vevey, Switzerland, are very |
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St George's Chapel Choir Windsor / James Vivian, Luke Bond
Christmas at St George's Windsor [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] The Choir of St George's Chapel, world famous through its royal patronage, is one of this country's foremost, participating in daily services throughout the year at its Windsor Castle home. Here the choir performs a wide range of music appropriate... |
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HEINRICH SCHUTZ
Schütz: The Christmas story & other works Yale Schola Cantorum / David Hill [ Hyperion / CD - released 29/Nov/2019 ] Schütz's 'Christmas story' is an absolute delight from beginning to end, its charming tableaux of angels, shepherds and wise men completely belying the composer's old age and constrained circumstances. Here it's the jubilant climax to a programme of... |
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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... |
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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... |
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Alfred Deller
Christmas Carols & Motets [ Musical Concepts / 4 CD - released 17/Nov/2008 ] Musical Concepts is pleased to announce the third release in one of the most ambitious early music reissue projects of all time - Alfred Deller: The Complete Vanguard Recordings. The series brings together every recording made by Alfred Deller - as... |
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André Rieu
Silver Bells [ Polydor / 2 CD/DVD - released 18/Nov/2022 ] It's the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas trees are warming, treats are the sweetest and anyone under the mistletoe gets a kiss. But the holiday season wouldn't be perfect without the delightful music of André Rieu! The CD & Bonus DVD is... |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (Complete oratorio) Andreas Scholl, Barbara Schlick, Sandrine Piau, Mark Padmore, Nathan Berg / Les Arts Florissants / William Christie [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 6/Dec/2019 ] |
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TRADITIONAL
On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols & Motets for Christmas Anonymous 4 [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 12/Nov/2012 ] "A truly superior recording…a sound of uncommon purity and beauty." CD Review |
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TRADITIONAL
Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers [CD & DVD] Jeannette Sorrell (harpsichord & conductor) & Meredith Hall (soprano) / Apollo's Fire [ Avie / 2 CD/DVD - released 5/Nov/2012 ] "This type of fusion is increasingly popular, and Apollo's Fire do it enthusiastically, if perhaps without the final degree of finessed musicality that other ensembles bring to this type of project" (BBC Music) |
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CHARPENTIER
Noels and Christmas Motets Aradia Ensemble / Kevin Mallon [ Naxos / CD - released 18/Oct/2009 ] "The Canadian vocal and instrumental Aradia Ensemble, under its director Kevin Mallon, performs stylishly and with sensibility." - Classic FM, Jan 2000 |
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J.S. BACH
Weihnachtskantaten (Christmas Cantatas) Arleen Auger (soprano) Ortrun Wenkel (contralto) Peter Schreier (ten) Siegfried Lorenz (bass) / Thomanerchor Leipzig Neues / Bachisches Collegium [ Berlin Classics Basics / CD - released 10/Mar/2008 ] "This disc enters a very crowded and competitive field. However, unless you're allergic to Bach played on modern instruments these well-turned performances under one of Bach's successors at St. Thomas's, Leipzig are well worth considering, especially... |
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CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saens: Oratorio de Noel - Christmas Oratorio Bachchor & Bachorchester Mainz [ Profil / CD - released 1/Jan/2005 ] |
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J.S. BACH
Sacred Works: Masses BWV 232-236 / Christmas Oratorio, BWV248 Soloists / Collegium Vocale, Ghent, Philippe Herreweghe [ Virgin Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2011 ] "the four Lutheran Masses have been absurdly undervalued because they were largely revamped from earlier cantatas. But who could resist the singing of Gerard Lesne, the invigorating Kyrie of the F major Mass, the G major's tenor aria with oboe... |
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TRADITIONAL
The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album The Cambridge Singers with Stephen Varcoe (baritone); The City of London Sinfonia; directed by John Rutter [ Collegium / CD - released 20/Nov/2003 ] "Rutter has become the musical equivalent of Dickens, synonymous with the season of Christmas." Guardian |
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HOLST / MENDELSSOHN / TRADITIONAL
Christmas With Canterbury Cathedral Girls' Choir Canterbury Cathedral Girls' Choir [ Decca / CD - released 1/Dec/2017 ] This is the debut album from the first ever girls' choir at historic Canterbury Cathedral. This album marks the first time that girls have been allowed to sing in an official capacity over the 1,400 year history of Canterbury Cathedral |
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GEOFFREY BUSH
A Christmas Cantata Cardiff Polyphonic Choir and Orchestra [ Saydisc / CD - released 1/Nov/2008 ] The highly regarded Cardiff Polyphonic Choir and Orchestra perform the first commercial recording of Geoffrey Bush's beautiful work "A Christmas Cantata". This popular work features well-known carols in a setting for choir with string orchestra and... |