Have a very Choral Christmas
The dim lit evenings sparkling with fairy lights, we turn to choral music for Christmas Warmth.
When winter is deeply set in, and we have finally accepted it is a grey wet winter again, I like to fill the house with fairy lights and magic.
To accompany my work and the enjoyable job of planning the Christmas holiday, I enjoy scouring the Christmas choral albums, and in particular this year I have enjoyed the Carols for Choirs Book 6 album recorded by The Oxford Choir. It contains all the variety I need, having sung a few Christmas Carol concerts in my day!
When I was growing up, I sang in a Junior Choir that made a smaller choir for carol concerts with the Choral Society at Haddo House. The carol concerts were famous and sold out each year, a popular way to get into the Christmas Spirit. I know the audience enjoyed singing the familiar hymns bathed in descants, and listening to the choirs perform new and more unusual carols. Something they had sung every year since the 1940s.
I have so many fond memories of singing with friends there, and this time of year brings back all those memories.
My Youtube Christmas Choral selection includes lots of live recordings and real performances for you to enjoy, of both new and old carols. I hope you enjoy it and let me know - what is your favourite carol?
Carol of the Bells, The Tabernacle Choir
The Shepherds’ Farewell, Berlioz, the Royal Choral Society
The Huron Carol, Canadian Christmas Carol, Farya Faraji
This Endris Night, Sarah Quartel, Somerville College Choir Oxford
Rejoice and be Merry, John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers
A Gallery Carol, John Gardner, Tenebrae
Waltz Carol, Thomas Hewitt Jones, Vivum Singers
O my dear heart, Edmund Joliff
Scots Nativity, Alan Bullard, Indianapolis Youth Chorale
Put Memory Away, Bob Chilcott, Portland Choir and Orchestra
For Unto Us a child is born, Handel, from Messiah, London Symphony Orchestra
A Present for the Future, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, London Voices
In the Bleak Midwinter, Darke, The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge
God Rest you Merry Gentlemen, The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge
Gaudete, arr. Jaques Cohen, Oxford Camerata
On this Silent Night, Sarah Quartel, The Oxford Choir
