You must think I fell into a crevasse while ice-climbing on Mount Rainier, or something. It’s been a long time since I posted. I’m working two jobs right now. I thought I was losing my full time job, so I accepted another position and then didn’t lose the first job — yet. It’s in flux. And I still haven’t finished washing all the sheets and towels from wall-to-wall Thanksgiving company. It goes slowly when I’m busy swearing at the radio. Honestly… do we have to listen to sixty different arrangements of the same old Christmas carols?
There is fantastic Christmas music out there. It’s ok to play some choral music this time of year! We almost never get to hear the Bach passions and the Christmas Oratorio. There are albums and albums of wonderful Mexican and South American Baroque Christmas music. The Boston Museum album of Christmas music is stunning. When I was on the air I used to make it a point of principle to play all the intriguing Xmas music we couldn’t play the rest of the year, and to avoid playing a single carol. Every other station is playing those tunes. Be different!
How about some suggestions for the best Xmas music that’s NOT carols?
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You know, I used almost that same line with my listeners “Do we have to listen to sixty different arrangements of the same old Christmas carols?” I mentioned how great it was that we could hear a Palestrina motet, a “Christmas” concerto from the Baroque, etc. Yesterday evening we listened to Boston Camerata’s recording of Charpentier’s “Noels pour les instruments.”
Poulenc Gloria, Christmas Motets; Respighi Laud to the Nativity; countless Magnificat settings; Rutter Gloria; Pinkham Christmas Cantata (sadly can not find our recording!). The BBC Christmas Around the World CDs are great. Don’t forget our Jewish friends: Hanukkah is Friday!
Here’s a wonderful program of music from the Mexican Baroque: http://www.prx.org/pieces/41885-a-mexican-baroque-christmas-with-the-rose-ensemble
Dave! Thanks! I was just putting together descriptions of our Christmas programs, and wondered if I could cut and paste something about the Rose Ensemble’s program (which we are carrying). See Marty, Scanning the Dial helps radio stations run more efficiently! 🙂
Something new and delightful for the season: ‘What If Mozart Wrote “White Christmas”‘, played by the Northern Lights Orchestra.
A few others:
* Hammerschmidt, “O geliebte Hirten” — first sang it nearly 40 years ago in high school, and haven’t been able to get it out of my head since — excellent recording by a Harvard group
* Ariel Ramirez, “Navidad Nuestra” — folk idiom, but superbly done
* Franz Biebl, “Ave Maria,” which makes the important liturgical connection between the “hail Mary” text and the reason why she’s being hailed, and in the bargain, projects an otherworldly serenity when it’s done well (e.g. by Cantus)
* Heinrich Schuetz, “Ein Kind Ist Uns Geboren” — I personally am also fond of the Schuetz Historia, but it’s rather long on recitatives for most tastes
* Vaughan Williams, “Hodie” — concert length and very VW-ish
* Pavel Chesnokov, “Salvation Is Created” — properly a liturgical piece for any season, but thematically, obviously fits well, and Russian liturgical music at its best
* And I second, third and fourth Daniel’s recommendation of “Laud to the Nativity.” Oh, my.
There’s a lot of good Christmas music, but a lot of lousy arrangements. I’d like to see Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ replace Messiah in a few more concerts this time of year.
On the radio front, I’d like to put in a plug for the European Broadcasting Union’s annual Day of Christmas broadcast, which should be happening on Dec. 20, and has a lot of great Christmas-appropriate music. They carry about 10 one-hour concerts from around Europe (and usually the U.S. and Canada, too). CBC 2 usually carries it, though I don’t think NPR ever does, though it would seem a natural.