Music for Advent and Christmas

[AnthonyAthletic]

Vaughan Williams'

Hodie / Fantasia on Christmas Carols



I purchased this in my latest batch last Wednesday, I have been meaning to buy "Hodie" for quite a few years now.  I (possibly) may be one of the few people on the Forum, not to have heard this work?  The Fantasia is one work which crops up on various other RVW cds I have, but Hodie will be a new experience.

I think I will hang onto it for another week or two and experience it a little closer to Christmas.

[some guy]

Françoise Barrière, Musique pour le temps noel

[hildegard]

Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors needs no introduction to my mother and 5 sisters.  We all saw it on TV and loved it from that point on.  Each year we searched for it but could never find it.  I even asked for it at CD store but they couldn't find it either.  In time I was long since married and had a 3-yr-old daughter.  We would sit together on the couch and listen to the LP which was just about worn out.

Amahl has also been a longtime Christmas staple in our family. CD below is from an original cast recording from 1952, directed by Menotti. The quality leaves much to be desired, but the LP is long gone.

[not edward]

As miniatures go, I find Schoenberg's Weihnachtsmusik stunningly beautiful.

[knight66]

Anne, Thank you for your family memories. Also, of course, the Ballet scores. I don't tend to think of them, but Hansel and Gretel I often play around this time. Despite being very keen on Berlioz, I have always found the Childhood of Christ to be illusive, I just don't seem to get to grips with it.

Mike

[SonicMan46]

Well, I have about 16 or so CDs that I keep in a 'pile' and pull out after Thanksgiving and play through the holidays - these include an eclectic mix of classic seasonal music going back to the Baroque, a lot of John Rutter, and more modern discs - just to start, below are 4 CDs that my wife & I have had for a long time and enjoy (keep in mind that she is Jewish, so if this is Christian music, the interpretations have to be more subtle than some 'country western' music star shouting out 'Frosty the Snowman' -  ):

John McCutcheon - Winter Solstice - just a wonderful mixture of seasonal music on the Rounder label - John is just superb, including a lot of hammer dulcimer (a favorite instrument for us).

Patrick Ball - The Christmas Rose - Celtic harp played beautifully by a great artist on this instrument.

John Boswell - Festival of the Heart - yes, a little 'New Age' but the selections, piano playing, and arrangements just make for a wonderful holiday listening experience (at least IMHO); Susan loves it despite some of the song selections (that's saying a LOT!).

Cyrus Chestnut - Blessed Quietness - jazz pianist doing hymns, spirituals, and carols - just wonderful relaxing piano playing - 

 

 

[Szykneij]

The Handel puzzles me a bit, I don't really understand why Christmas is the time for performing it in preference to Easter, which has more relevance to a lot of the music.

When it's presented around here at Christmas time, only Part One (The Nativity) is performed with the obligatory Hallelujah Chorus thrown in at the end.

[karlhenning]

Anne, Thank you for your family memories. Also, of course, the Ballet scores. I don't tend to think of them, but Hansel and Gretel I often play around this time. Despite being very keen on Berlioz, I have always found the Childhood of Christ to be illusive, I just don't seem to get to grips with it.

Mike

Interesting, Mike!  Years ago when I went on a big Berlioz binge (making up for years of neglect, even when I had been relatively curious about a piece, such as the Requiem or Roméo et Juliette), somehow L'enfance was near the top of my 'to listen to' list, and I cottoned to it right away.

[knight66]

Karl, I feel a Christmas project coming on. It is fundamentally undramatic; perhaps that is why I find it difficult, it is not like the rest of his work.

Mike

[DavidW]

I don't know if I still have it, but I used to listen to Lutoslawski's Polish Christmas Carols.

[donaldopato]

This is a delightful album of instrumental Christmas inspired symphonic works.

A Carol Symphony Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Improvisations on Christmas Carols Bryan Kelly
Bethlehem Down Peter Warlock
Wassail Dances Philip Lane
A Christmas Carol Symphony Patric Standford

All wonderful, well played and somewhat off the beaten path. Both the Hely-Hutchinson and Standford pieces incorporate Christmas carol melodies in a definite symphonic structure.

[knight66]

Well, we are certainly not just sticking to the obvious pieces. Years ago when I was in choirs, we used to do carol concerts on next to no rehearsal. The chorus master liked to produce arrangements, we even did an LP of them at one point. But each year, he would tinker with them, so they were often different, but only slightly. I hated these concerts, as far as I was concerned, a wide number of pieces, 17th cent to contemporary, needed lots of rehearsal time, but got next to none. I have avoided being involved with singing carols ever since.

There was a similar approach to The Messiah which we sang every New Year day. I had to learn it on my own, then there were two rehearsals, one to top and tail and one with the conductor. However, most of us knew it pretty well after several years, so it became like putting on a well worn glove. There were occasionally hairy moments, but in general these performances went very well, despite any hangovers.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

My favourite piece of Christmas music is Finzi's In Terra Pax, for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, in which the familiar Christmas story of the angels appearing to the shepherds, as recounted in Luke's Gospel, is framed by Robert Bridges' poem Noel, Christmas Eve. Finzi's depiction of a frosty Christmas Eve is most evocative, and, for some reason, though I first heard this piece as an adult, it always takes me back to the excitement I felt about Christmas when I was a child. It is available on this Decca compilation, conducted by David Hill.



However, Decca also have in their vaults another, and to my mind much better, performance, with Norma Burrowes and John Shirley-Quirk, and conducted by the late Richard Hickox. Maybe now Decca will see fit to reissue this perfomance.

[DavidW]

Of late I have been listening to Higginbottom (spelling?) for Handel's Messiah.  I'm sure that it's not most peoples cup of tea, but I rather enjoy it.

Anyone else listening to the Messiah or planning on it soon?

[knight66]

Hi David, yes, I will be giving The Messiah a spin over the next month. Last year I bought the Christie version as a contrast to my modern instrument versions; very much enjoy it. I also have a version of the Mozart edition. It still sounds a fair bit like Handel.

Mike

[drogulus]

     I'm getting this from the Chandos downloads:

     

     This is my all time favorite for Christmas:

     

[Tsaraslondon]

I see nobody else has commented on the Finzi I mentioned earlier. Perhaps it is more obscure than I thought and no one else has heard it. I do urge you all to try it. Another piece that does not seem to have had a mention yet is Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, of which there are numerous excellent recordings. I have this one, included on a most attractive collection of twentieth century carol settings.



though others may well prefer a recording featuring boys' voices.

I do not have this CD, though I have both works in now no longer available recordings. Both works are quite charming and are worth investigating.



I also, rather guiltily, adore the completely over the top Christmas offerings from such singers as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Leontyne Price and Joan Sutherland, though quite understand why others may find them too sugary for their taste.

[vandermolen]

Finzi: In Terra Pax

Vaughan Williams: Hodie, First Nowell, Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Honegger: Christmas Cantata

Bax: Christmas Eve on the Mountains

[Père Malfait]

Some of my favorites:









. . . and an excellent 4-disc anthology:



All highly recommended!

[Christo]

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Hodie, The First Nowell, Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Ottorino Respighi - Lauda per la Natività del Signore

Joaquín Rodrigo - Retablo de Navidad

Frank Martin - Le Nativité

Arthur Honegger - Cantate de Noël

Paul Constantinescu - Naşterea Domnului: Oratoriul Bizantin De Crăciun (The Nativity: Byzantine Christmas Oratorio)