Favorite Holiday Music No. 17 - 12 Days (the David Chase remix)

I laughed until my eyes were tearing almost constantly the first time I heard David Chase's arrangement of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as performed by the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus under the direction of the fabulously brilliant Keith Lockhart.  The maestro has this to say about the piece:

"I knew we had a winning new arrangement of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' when we premiered it in 2007, but the audience's enthusiastic response night after night was unlike anything I've ever seen at the Pops," said Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart.  "Then a flood of letters and phone calls came in requesting a recording of the new arrangement-an incredibly creative twist on one of the greatest Christmas-time classics. We knew then and there that we would make a recording of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and that it would become a staple of our Holiday season programming." 

The piece is available for sale in various audio download formats at the BSO website.   There's a commercial for it on the BSO's YouTube channel and as a free podcast on iTunes that lets you hear little snippets, but the music is mostly covered up by the voiceover, unfortunately.

added on the afternoon of 12/23:
You might just be able to catch a live performance of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" via Classical New England online live streaming on Christmas Eve at 7 p.m., EST.  Check out this link to see what else Classical New England has to offer this holiday season.


And I didn't mention it earlier, but this arrangement of the familiar carol has snippets of music from Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Offenbach, Souza, Saint-Saens & Tchaikovsky to Rogers & Hammerstein and even an unexpected appearance by a popular seventies British rock band whose name I will not mention for fear of spoiling the surprise.  It is truly an inventive re-imagining of the original song, and David Chase gets my highest respect for coming up with it!

As an aside, the one new Christmas picture book I bought this year (I can't believe it was only one!) was Laurel Long's Twelve Days of Christmas, which is absolutely gorgeous.

Happy Holidays!

Favorite Holiday Music No. 16 - Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)

Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote a Christmas mass based on four French carols, each of which is sung preceding the movement it inspired.  The fourth and last carol is the one in the YouTube video above, and is performed by the Aradia Ensemble under the direction of Kevin Mallon.  Find the cd or mp3 download of the entire Messe de Minuit pour Nöel here.

Favorite Holiday Music No. 15 - Irving Berlin

Still waiting for our snow to arrive.

For those of you who, like me, can't get enough holiday music, Amazon is giving out free mp3s of one holiday song per day until Christmas.  Yesterday's (Dec. 2--there are a couple of hours left for those of you that are west of here) was by the Indigo Girls.  For some reason December 1st's freebie is still available, though I've never heard of the band (though that's not saying a lot, as I mostly listen to Sting and classical music).

Need help getting into the holiday spirit?

Music Monday - Favorite Holiday Music No. 14

From his 2008 CD What a Night!, here is Harry Connick, Jr. singing "Please Come Home for Christmas" on the Today show. The song starts about a minute and half into the video. Matt and Harry have a little banter with each other first.

Music Monday - Favorite Holiday Music No. 13

It's that time of year again. The Christmas issue of BBC Music Magazine arrived today, and I've been enjoying taking a look at "Choirs at Christmas," the cover article, plus I can't wait to delve into "Bleak Midwinters," which views how composers create music that brings frosty weather to life.

But until I get a chance to sit down with a cup of tea and the magazine in a clean, well-lit place (that happens to be quiet, too, my first requirement), I'll have to rely on recent experiences to share some new favorite holiday music.

Just yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing several friends sing in a local "Christmas chorus" concert. The program featured French carols, and, besides Noël Nouvelet, a favorite I wrote about last year, one of songs the group sang was The Basque Carol, or Gabriel's Message. One reason my ears perked up when this song started was that it is also on Sting's new CD, If on a Winter's Night. While the traditional arrangement that the chorus sang is lovely in and of itself, what Sting has done with the song makes it sound both more introspective than the usual hymn-like form the song takes and also reflective of what is probably the melody's origin: 12th or 13th century chant.

An interesting compare-and-contrast exercise is listening, in succession, to Sting's 2009 version of the carol, and his 1989 version, on the multi-artist CD, A Very Special Christmas.

While both have their merits (nostalgia being foremost when I listen to the one from two decades ago), I have a decided preference for the later one.

Another new favorite from Sting's 2009 CD is the second track, There is No Rose of Such Virtue, which, like Gabriel's Message, also has its roots in the Middles Ages, though this song likely began in a royal court rather than a monastery. Beginning with a quiet open fifth drone, Sting uses his newly-outed baritone voice to sing an entire verse virtually unaccompanied. And then the world beat kicks in and it becomes a whole new, gorgeously presented song. Even after listening to it a few dozen times, I still feel a little zing when the song transitions.

So my husband walks into a Starbucks. . .

. . . and what does he see but a brand new Sting cd.

Sting. With a beard. Singing one of my favorite Christmas carols ever, along with a host of other songs to bring cheer on a winter's night. My day just got a whole lot better.

Holiday Music #12 - The Wrap Up

It's been fun to reflect on some old favorites, remember some forgotten ones, and discover new music to love this past December. I'll take a leaf out of Melissa Wiley's book and alert you to the fact that, while I used Amazon links via the Amazon associate program to post music (and books) here, I don't even have the program set up to pay me (which notice appears every time I go to create yet another mini widget for a carol or book). It was just the easiest way for me get the music out there. Personally, I use iTunes for almost all my music purchases these days, but they don't pay me to say that.☺

Two of my new favorites that I discovered thanks to the December issue of BBC Music Magazine are "Born on a New Day," by Welsh composer John David and with Christmas text by King's Singers member Philip Lawson, and an Ave Maria by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, called "Bogoroditse Dyévo." I only wish this latter song was longer--it is that lovely. I plan to explore other music by Arvo Pärt soon!

Born on a New Day, as sung by The King's Singers:


Bogoroditse Dyévo, as sung by the Pro Arte Singers and Theatre of Voices under the direction of Paul Hillier on the cd, I Am the True Vine:


Happy New Year!

Holiday Music #11 - Straight No Chaser

Straight No Chaser, an a cappella men's vocal group formerly out of Indiana University, has an amazing sound, and they have a new CD featuring their popular live version of "The 12 Days of Christmas." If you haven't heard it, just scroll down--I couldn't resist adding it. But, first, for the New Year, here is the group singing "Auld Lang Syne," which is also the free discovery single of the week at iTunes.



And here is a recent version of "The 12 Days of Christmas":



Happy New Year! May 2009 find you healthy and happy.

Holiday Music #10 - Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

"Benjamin Britten must be accepted as the most outstanding English composer working in the mid-20th century, winning a significant international reputation, while remaining thoroughly English in inspiration, a feat his immediate predecessors had been unable fully to achieve."

For the rest of this brief bio of Britten, visit here, his page at the Naxos website, or, for more information, you can go here, his page at Wikipedia.

Britten's A Ceremony of Carols has been familiar to me since my undergraduate days, though Britten also wrote several other compositions for choir or voice that are seasonally themed, such as Winter Words (based on the poetry of Thomas Hardy) for tenor accompanied by piano, and A Boy Was Born, for treble voices plus choir.

A Ceremony of Carols was written for treble voices, soloists, and harp. Britten took the text from a book of medieval poetry he stumbled across while stopping in Nova Scotia en route back to Britain after spending three years in the U.S. Some of the texts he set to music during his voyage, and the rest were completed by 1942. Any of the movements in it are worth a listen, but here are my favorites from the 12-song cycle, as sung by The Sixteen, under the direction of Harry Christophers, both on the CD, Hodie--an English Christmas Collection and in an mp3 collection, A Ceremony of Carols, Britten Choral Works II:

II. Wolcum Yule


III. There is No Rose


V. Balulalow


VI. As Dew in Aprille


VII. This Little Babe


Merry Christmas!

Holiday Music #9 - two French carols

Here are two of my favorite traditional French carols:

Noël Nouvelet, from the Apollo's Fire cd, Noels & Carols from the Olde World. The soloist reminds me a bit of Custer LaRue, but is either Sandra Simon or Cynthia Roberts (it's not clear online and I don't own the whole CD. Note to Apple and Amazon--make CD liner notes accessible with downloads).



Il Est Né Le Divin Enfant, also on the same cd by baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire:



Joyeux Noël!

Holiday Music #8 - Peter, Paul, and Mary

Not having been raised in the Jewish tradition, I don't know a lot of music that is appropriate for The Festival of Lights, but here is a touching song by Peter, Paul, and Mary that was written for this holiday.



Happy Hanukkah!

Holiday Music # 7 - Alfred Burt (1920-1954)

A favorite carol from the Christmas community choir performance I participated in last year has been running through my head for a day or so: "This Is Christmas," by Alfred Burt. In the 1940's and '50's, Burt wrote fifteen carols, one each year to send as Christmas cards to his family. Today Burt's music has both been recorded by many artists like Julie Andrews (and Andy Williams, be still my heart) and arranged for choral singing. Much information, including audio clips of the carols (and samples of the original art work of the holiday cards) exist at The Alfred Burt Carols website, which is definitely worth a visit. Here is a list of Burt's carols in chronological order, and then snippets of two of my favorites.

Christmas Cometh Caroling (1942)
Jesu Parvule (1943)
What Are the Signs (1944)
Ah, Bleak and Chill the Wintry Wind (1945)
All on A Christmas Morning (1946)
Nigh Bethlehem (1947)
Christ in the Stranger's Guise (1948)
Sleep Baby Mine (1949)
This Is Christmas (1950)
Some Children See Him (1951)
Come, Dear Children (1952)
O, Hearken Ye (1953)
Caroling. Caroling (1954)
We'll Dress the House (1954)
The Star Carol (1954)


1. This is Christmas (also called "Bright, Bright the Holly Berries" sometimes, after the first line of the song). If you go to the Alfred Burt Carol website, you'll hear most of Julie Andrews' recording of the carol, but here is a brisk version by the Camilli String Quartet:




2. Caroling, Caroling. This song was made popular by Nat King Cole, but I think the slow speed at which he sang it makes the song sound lugubrious instead of merry. Here is a version by The Singers Unlimited. Andy Williams also sings this carol (slightly faster than NKC), but that version wasn't available at Amazon.



Happy Solstice Eve!

Holiday Music #6 - Revels and Anonymous 4

I had the distinct pleasure of attending two phenomenal live performances of Christmas music this week. The a cappella women's quartet Anonymous 4 was in concert a few days ago here in New England, and they were superb. And yesterday, DS (10) and I braved the perils of parking in Harvard Square and got to see a few friends and many other fantastic musicians in The 38th Annual Christmas Revels--sword dancing, singing, instrumentals, poems, and a mummer's play! Great fun (but we'll be taking the T next time). 'Tis the season to be busy, though, so here, without much comment, are a couple of selections from each group.

From The Christmas Revels--In Celebration of the Winter Solstice: Abbots Bromley Horn Dance.



and, while not strictly a song for the holidays, this one is a Revels tradition:



A little trivia--Susan Cooper (author of The Dark is Rising sequence) wrote the poem, "The Shortest Day," for Revels in 1977. I've known the poem for a few years now, but had no idea it was created for Revels.

From Anonymous 4's cd On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols and Motets:

A carol, Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse.



and a song, Gabriel, Fram Heven-King



Enjoy!

Music Monday - Holiday Music #5

Today I was reminded of several early music Christmas works that have been favorites of mine since my undergraduate days. One of them made the BBC 50 Greatest Carols list.

1. Psallite unigenito by Michael Praetorius. Praetorius was a late 16th century German composer who was much loved by a music professor of mine. Said professor was also the director of the chamber choir with which I sang for three years, and every year at the holidays we would sing this beautiful, albeit short 4-part song:

Prætorius was also one of the most prolific composers of his generation in Germany, listing over forty volumes of printed music at the end of the Syntagma musicum, including sacred and secular works of all kinds for voices, choirs, instruments, and organ.

From Goldberg, the Early Music Portal, which I just discovered tonight! What a resource.


2. Gaudete (thanks, Barb!). This tune from the Renaissance is in a minor key and has such a rousing beat that it is fun to listen to--the recording I have that I like best is that of John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers on the cd, A Christmas Festival, but that's not available to listen to via an Amazon widget. There's a recording out there somewhere that I like better, but I haven't been able to find it--it uses period instruments and the small group of singers have excellent Latin. But for fun, listen to this recording by Steeleye Span, for the mangled Latin with the added bonus of Cockney accents!



3. O Magnum Mysterium, by Tomás Luis de Victoria. This motet did make the top 50 carols in BBC Music Magazine, coming in pretty high up the list at number fifteen. Victoria was another 16th century composer, this one from Spain. The beginning is gorgeously ethereal (if done correctly, and Chanticleer has one of the best recordings I could find), and the work ends with a rousing Alleluia.

Holiday Music #4 - Traditional Irish

Dating back from the 12th century, the Wexford Carol comes from the town of Enniscorthy in, yes, County Wexford, Ireland. Beginning 'Good people all, this Christmas time,' it has become familiar to many today through John Rutter's beautiful arrangement of 1978 which begins with a melodious, if frighteningly exposed, baritone solo.

From "The 50 Greatest Carols," in the December, 2008 issue of BBC Music Magazine.

I love the medieval sound of this carol. In fact, it's such a favorite that I arranged it for string quartet and used it as my wedding processional--in September! Its sound is due to the fact that it is not in a key like D major, but is rather based around an older mode called Mixolydian, where the seventh note of the scale is a half-tone flatter than it is in the modern major (or Ionian) scale. Sing Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la and then sing ti down a half-step (te), do.There is an excellent written explanation of musical modes here.

This was another carol I remember hearing Julie Andrews sing back in the 1970s, but I also like what is probably its most recent incarnation, on the cd, Songs of Joy & Peace, by Yo-Yo Ma and Friends. The track features Alison Kraus on vocals, Natalie McMaster on fiddle, and Yo-Yo Ma on ukelele (kidding).

Holiday Music #3 - Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

The cover article of BBC Music Magazine's December, 2008 issue is called "The 50 Greatest Carols, as Voted by the World's Finest Choirmasters." While only two of those choral experts who voted were women (a topic for another day, perhaps), I found myself agreeing by and large with the carols I recognized on the list. Especially intriguing to me was a sidebar written by Harry Christophers, the director of The Sixteen, which was devoted to "5 Ancient Carols," though many of the carols in the top fifty were also composed before 1600. Coming soon--a post on my experience listening to the tracks Christophers recommends. ☺

But today I want to touch on a favorite carol of mine, which was very high up on the BBC list, with text by Christina Rossetti and music by various composers: "In the Bleak Midwinter." I like Gustav Holst's version, which I remember hearing Julie Andrews singing when I was a tween (not that such a term existed way back then).




Even though Holst is well-known for his symphonic work, The Planets, the majority of his works were either choral or vocal, or written for the stage. Holst was largely passed over in my undergraduate music history classes, merely mentioned as a contemporary and friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams and, oh, yes, he wrote that "popular" piece, the one about the solar system or something. Even though I was a music performance major, and we were supposed to be above music that crowds adore, I secretly loved listening to bombastic "Jupiter" and whimsical "Mercury," not to mention vehement "Mars" when I was in a snit (who, me?). And then there was also Holst's other popular orchestral work, St. Paul's Suite, which had plenty of celtic-sounding folksong in it to charm me, too.




Egdon Heath, a tone poem inspired by Thomas Hardy's fictional populated heath, is considered by many to be the finest of Holst's compositions, though I must admit to unfamiliarity with the piece. Ah, well. My holiday wish list and my list of "music with which to acquaint myself" grow ever longer.

"In the Bleak Midwinter," with music by another composer, Harold Darke, is also much sung by choirs around the world. I like this one, too, but the Julie Andrews recording pushes the Holst one over the top for me.

Holiday Music #2 - Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

It's not Music Monday today, but now that I've figured out that I can embed an Amazon widget in my post and not just on my sidebar, I'm planning to be a lot more vocal about the music I favor. I have just a little bit of a preference for classical music, and early music in particular, but that doesn't mean I won't have plenty to say about music from other genres!

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn, so I expect to see and hear a lot of Mendelssohn's music performed next year. Other than the oratorio, Elijah, I didn't have a lot of familiarity with other choral works by the composer. My lack of knowledge is taking a swift turn for the better, however, as the community chorus I sing with will be performing not one, not two, but three of Mendelssohn's choral compositions in an early spring concert. Of these three works, particularly appropriate for the holiday season is the Magnificat in D, which the composer wrote when he was just thirteen.

I would have loved to have included a snippet of the Magnificat here, but it turns out that Amazon does not have an mp3 available of any of its sections, though I did find out that Wake Forest Public Radio will be presenting an American broadcast debut of the Magnificat, as sung by the Yale Schola Cantorum under the musical direction of Simon Carrington, formerly of the King's Singers and now professor of conducting at the Yale School of Music. I've already put it in my calendar to tune in online on the 28th at noon.

So instead, here is another, more well known tune by Mendelssohn. Enjoy!

Music Monday - Holiday Music #1

This is that time of the year--you know, the one when you hear Jingle Bells ad nauseam. So, in order to combat ear fatigue, I give you a few of my favorites, starting now. I hope I've figured out how to embed these little snippets of songs!

The cd I always reach for first as soon as Thanksgiving is over is Bright Day Star by the Baltimore Consort, which you can still find at iTunes or as mp3 files at Amazon even though copies are no longer being released from the recording label. I've waxed poetic about the voice of BC member Custer LaRue before, but it's the instrumentals in the first track that I love best. Enjoy!