GMG's Festive Choice

[Karl Henning]

I'm going to have to listen to Vaughan Williams' Eighth Symphony soon; I've never heard it!

Sara's already reacted to this, so I shan't pile on ; )

I'm also keen to try Lutoslawski's Twenty Polish Christmas Carols this season. Not really being a fan of the baroque, I might go easy on the Bach oratorios...

FWIW, hearing a live performance of the Christmas Oratorio had an effect curiously reverse to my expectations, and set me on a path of resistance to the Bach oratorios as a category . . . .

[KeithW]

Some of us are still in Advent ; )

In which case, I should refer to this gem - I did listen to it on Advent Sunday

[asin]B0000030PD[/asin]

[cjvinthechair]

Another vote for Britten - St. Nicholas !

[Lisztianwagner]

Nice question as we are in the height of Christmas time

Hmm, for me it would have to be Liszt's Weihnachtsbaum, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

Also Respighi's Feste Romane

[Brian]

Already enjoyed RVW Eighth and Lutoslawski's Twenty Carols; next up: carols by RVW and Benjamin Britten, plus Bax's Christmas Eve.

[Elgarian]

Christmas is a complicated time of year for all sorts of reasons (and if anything, even more complicated this year), and I'm not much of a one for specifically Christmas music. But I was reading this thread, and thinking back to Christmases past, and my thoughts drifted back to about 1963/4, when I was discovering classical music, and the winter of that year, when I saved up to buy my first classical LPs. Among those few treasured recordings was Scheherazade (Kletzki, on HMV Concert Classics), now long worn out, and discarded.

I remember listening to it a lot around Christmas - maybe the Thief of Baghdad as a holiday item on TV put me in the mood, or something; maybe the middle-eastern flavour felt right. But anyway, I was sitting here today half-remembering this, when I realised that I don't actually have a really good replacement for that Kletzki recording; in fact I don't have what I'd call a tip-top recording of Scheherazade at all. So I got to paddling around Amazon and ended up ordering two versions a few minutes ago that I think might fill the void:

 

It's Christmas Eve, so I won't get these CDs until after the holiday period, but at this moment, thinking about being sixteen at Christmas, when everything was still to play for, and life stretched endlessly ahead and bursting with potential, Scheherazade seems to feel oddly appropriate. I shall give Immerseel's version a spin later.

[eyeresist]

Among those few treasured recordings was Scheherazade (Kletzki, on HMV Concert Classics), now long worn out, and discarded.

It would be nice if this was reissued. I think I've liked everything of Kletzki's I've heard.

[starrynight]

I remember liking Rimsy-Korsakov's Christmas Eve Suite, not so well known probably.  And as for carol derived pieces I think there are works by lesser known 20th century composers which are probably just as enjoyable as those by famous names, for instance Bryan Kelly's Improvisations on Christmas Carols.  So many more interesting things in 20th century  music beyond the famous names I think.

[Lethevich]

Already enjoyed RVW Eighth and Lutoslawski's Twenty Carols; next up: carols by RVW and Benjamin Britten, plus Bax's Christmas Eve.

+ 2

It's really quite flawed, but Bax's Christmas Eve has some of his strongest inspiration - at least as far as shouting some good tunes at people, and offering a nice symphonic sweep.