2010 has been a banner year for Christmas recordings. To help you sift through all the new Yuletide offerings, here’s a list of some of our favorites. Hopefully, they’ll become your favorites, too. The links will take you to ArkivMusic, where you can purchase the recordings, and a portion of the proceeds will come back to the station. Thanks for your support, and ‘Happy Holidays’ from all of us at WFMT!
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet)Berlin Philharmonic/Sir Simon Rattle
For his first Tchaikovsky recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle has chosen the enduring holiday classic. His refreshing approach brings out the subtle nuances in this most popular work. The recording is available in various editions, including the ‘Experience Edition,’ a double CD set with a 52-page hardcover book detailing the history and context of the ballet.
Puer natus est: Tudor Music for Advent & ChristmasStile Antico
The splendid British vocal ensemble Stile Antico centers their program on Tallis’s ‘Christmas’ Mass, based on the festive plainchant Puer natus est (‘A boy is born’). The mass is interspersed with seasonal Tudor music – William Byrd’s Propers for the fourth Sunday of Advent, responsories by Taverner and Sheppard, and Robert White’s exuberant setting of the Magnificat.
Santo: Sacred SongsJuan Diego Flórez, tenor; Bologna Teatro Comunale Chorus & Orchestra/Michele Mariotti
Celebrate the season with great vocalism by Juan Diego Flórez, one of today’s leading operatic tenors. He sings a diverse selection of sacred arias and songs, including favorites such as ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ and ‘Ave Maria.’ A highlight of the recording is the title track, ‘Santo,’ composed by Flórez himself. The piece is infused with the vibrant spirit and rhythms of his native Peru.
Arise, Shine!: Advent Festival of Lessons & CarolsSt. James Cathedral Choir/Bruce J. Barber
The choir of Chicago’s own St. James Episcopal Cathedral presents a traditional Advent Festival taken from the liturgy of the great cathedral in Salisbury, England. Beautiful carols and hymns are interspersed with scripture readings that proclaim the warmth and illumination of the season.
NoëlLa Pietà/Angèle Dubeau
Through popular songs, carols and Baroque instrumental pieces, the Canadian string ensemble La Pietà offers a holiday voyage of diverse origins and traditions. This musical celebration of the Nativity will take you to Finland, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Russia, and, closer to home, Mexico and Canada.
Bach: Cantatas for Christmas Day & Epiphany (Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, Volume 18)Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
The final installment of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s epic Bach Cantata Pilgrimage has arrived. This last pair of discs takes us back to the very beginning of the journey, presenting Christmas and Epiphany music given in the two cities most closely associated with Bach, Weimar and Leipzig, before moving on to Hamburg.
The Cherry Tree: Songs, Carols & Ballads for ChristmasAnonymous 4
Anonymous 4′s newest program is named for the miracle ballad of Joseph and Mary, the earliest text of which survives from a Coventry Play written in the 14th century. ‘The Cherry Tree’ story persisted in many forms, making its way into medieval British carols of the mid-15th century, and into British and American traditional ballads.
Bach: Cantata #63Mendelssohn: Vom Himmel hoch
Vaughan Williams: The First Nowell
Soloists; London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir/Vladimir Jurowski
The London Philharmonic’s recording of festive choral music includes one of Bach’s richly scored cantatas and Mendelssohn’s Vom Himmel hoch, which was inspired by his admiration of Bach. Vaughan Williams’ nativity play The First Nowell incorporates arrangements of traditional English carols.
Holiday ClassicsSeattle Symphony/Gerard Schwarz
Seattle Symphony’s first holiday album embraces works composed specifically for Christmas as well as other pieces that convey a universal message of peace, love and hope. Conductor Gerard Schwarz arranged or edited several of the works. All of the music celebrates the remarkable artistry of the musicians of the orchestra.
Baroque Christmas in HamburgBremer Baroque Consort/Manfred Cordes
The Bremer Baroque Consort takes us back to 17th-century Hamburg, a major center of commerce and trade that also had a flourishing musical scene. The program shows the development of the early Baroque style with motets and chorales for the feast of Christmas, interspersed with organ solos.
Sing we now of ChristmasTaylor Festival Choir & Players/Robert Taylor
The Taylor Festival Choir is based in Charleston, South Carolina, but its membership is drawn from cities around the country. For its new Christmas recording, the choir is joined by a stellar group of folk musicians to bring together the worlds of classical and Celtic music in an appealing blend.
Bryn Terfel: Carols & Christmas SongsBryn Terfel, bass-baritone; Côrdydd; Welsh National Opera Orchestra/Tecwyn Evans
Bryn Terfel leads a special assemblage of Welsh and international musicians. It’s a very personal, intimate album of his favorite Christmas carols and songs from around the world and from his native Wales. This set includes a full program of music sung mostly in English on the first CD plus a bonus CD of some of the same music (and some different) sung in Welsh.
Deutsche Grammophon B0014914-72 (2 CDs)
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[...] WFMT 98.7 has chosen Taylor Festival Choir’s Sing We Now of Christmas as one of her top Holiday Recordings of 2010! We are delighted to receive such an endorsement from one of the USA’s finest classical music [...]