Some Classical Christmas for your ears this year

It's been an odd Fall here in Rexburg, Idaho. Temperatures were pretty mild clear through mid November. I thought I had plenty of time to get the Christmas lights up on the house. Then abruptly the temperatures dropped through the floor, snow came, and I seem to have missed the window to get up on the roof and put lights on. So instead of lights I thought I'd at least share the light of some great Christmas music. 

Now, there's plenty of Christmas music out there. Some of it is even great! I've even written previously about some of my favorites here:http://michaelwahlquist.blogspot.com/2013/12/unique-christmas-music-you-should-add.html 

That 2013 post includes some of my enduring favorites which I turn to early each Christmas season: Ellington's big band arrangement of the Nutcracker, Britten's Ceremony of Carols for harp and children's chorus, and the album Snow Angels by Over the Rhine. But honestly, the last few years, the first Christmas music that I play (and share) is this little gem put together by a former student: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but it's the most ♪

And now if you need to get that out of your head, hear's my full Classical Christmas playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLolvBA2NVD3-CKtIe-wkDJiMxWCFemnSn

A few highlights:

Symphony No. 49 "Christmas Symphony" (1981) by Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000). 

This piece for strings, by the prolific American-Armenian composer, manages to feel incredibly Christmas-y without sleigh bells or Bing Crosby. As the lyrical melodies churn throughout, bits of familiar Christmas hymns emerge like memories without feeling like a medley.

Twenty Polish Christmas Carols (1946/1984-1989) by Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994)

My theory students might be surprised that this modernist composer, whose music I have been known to spoon down their ears, was capable of writing such charming, traditional music. First arranged for soprano and piano by the composer shortly after WWII, when both his Bartok-like interest in Polish music and Stalinist enforcement of localized Socialist Realism were at a peak, the composer cared enough about the material to later spend several years in his last decade orchestrating them for soprano, female choir and orchestra. 

Oratorio de Noël (1858) by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1931)

This delightful early work by the French master had escaped me until this year, when my wife played harp in it for the Anam Cara chamber choir on their Christmas concert. Sherlock might deduce from its Latin text, pervasive counterpoint and polished organ writing that the composer was a recent Paris Conservatory graduate working as a church organist. 

Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noël (1952) by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

Another French Catholic composer, Poulenc has a great ear for harmony. These challenging (for the choir, not the listener) a cappella works are just a small part of his fabulous contributions to sacred classical music in the 20th century. 

And SO! MUCH! MORE! 

There's plenty more on the list: The Christmas-y first hour of Liszt's 3-hour Christus Oratorio, Menotti's televised Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, Rimsky-Korsakov's Christmas Eve Suite, Elgar's A Christmas Greeting, Corelli's Christmas Oratorio and so much more!

The playlist caps off with a 2011 live congregational Christmas hymn in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel with an epic organ outro featuring the unusual spinning bells of the zimbelstern on the organ (see the star in the center of the organ on the picture below).