Christmas / Chanukkah CDs
Christmas / Chanukkah CDs
426 products
Palestrina, Vol. 4 / The Sixteen
"A CLASSIC IN THE MAKING." GRAMOPHONE ON THE SIXTEEN'S PALESTRINA SERIES THE SIXTEEN RELEASES THE FOURTH ALBUM IN ITS ACCLAIMED SERIES A towering figure in Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina is arguably one of the greatest composers of liturgical music of all time. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of his work with the fourth disc in their celebrated series. This album features a selection of Palestrina's music for Christmas including his largely unknown masterpiece, the Missa O magnum mysterium. Also presented are several unusual hymn settings amongst them A solis ortu cardine--a setting of a chant hymn for Christmas morning. Among composers, Palestrina is unusual in setting this hymn for Lauds on the Feast of Nativity. Most composers reserved their efforts for the more important celebrations of Vespers. The text, written by Caelius Sedulius, is itself unusual in that the verses begin with successive letters of the alphabet. Alongside the hymns are motets from the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs are among some of Palestrina's most sublime and expressive works and, as with previous disc in the series, this album includes three of them. Dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII, Palestrina's style of writing for these sensual texts demonstrates what variety and intensity of feeling can be conveyed with the simplest of means. Completing this recording are three double-choir motets (a genre in which Palestrina was unsurpassed), Ave Regina, Iubilate Deo and Surge illuminare.
Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale Vol 1 / Christophers, The Sixteen
“The Sixteen under Harry Christophers respond with breathtaking assurance.” — Gramophone
Palestrina, Vol. 2 / The Sixteen
PALESTRINA Missa Hodie Christus natus est. Hodie Christus natus est. Christe Redemptor omnium Ex Patre. Magnificat 5 toni. Tui sunt caeli. Reges Tharsis. O magnum mysterium. Song of Songs: Excerpts • Harry Christophers, cond; The Sixteen • CORO COR 16105 (67:34 Text and Translation)
This is the second issue in the recently announced series of Palestrina works ( Fanfare 35:2). In what is clearly a pattern, this disc also offers a Mass with its related motet, additional motets related to the theme of the Mass, and three more sections of the Song of Songs. Just as the first disc added Marian motets to the Mass for the feast of the Assumption, this Mass is filled out with Christmas motets. The hymn Christe Redemptor omnium is an alternatim setting, as is the Magnificat. The Mass is one of four double-choir Masses first published together in 1601, the only such settings among the composer’s 105 Masses. This is at least the seventh recording of the Mass but the first in almost two decades. The most recent were directed by Jeremy Summerly with a large choir (18:1) and by Paul McCreesh with a vocal ensemble (not reviewed in the States); earlier examples were mostly choral renditions. Christophers’s tempos fall midway between those two versions. The most notable difference among the three versions comes in the Agnus Dei, which I presume was set once by the composer; McCreesh surrounds the single invocation with chant from Mass XVII for the first and last invocations, Summerly renders the music twice, supplying the altered text for the final invocation, as I would expect a Renaissance-era choir to do, and Christophers simply provides the single invocation as printed.
The promise of the first disc is fulfilled here with an exquisite rendition of the Mass and a fine collection of related motets. While many will appreciate the warmth of Summerly’s larger choir, the broad tempos, and the attractive price of a disc that couples it with a much-duplicated Lassus Mass for double choir, there is much to be said for the new disc in addition to its intelligent programming. Christophers explains in the notes that hymns composed as alternatim settings can be difficult to sing because the chant found in modern editions does not correspond to the melody used in the polyphonic verses. But the chant of this Christe Redemptor omnium can be deduced from the polyphony and confirmed from Victoria’s setting, which was published with the same chant printed out completely. He also notes how singers may have added unwritten accidentals to the chant in the same way the accidentals were written in the polyphony. He cites the superb volume of 68 offertories for the liturgical year that Palestrina published at the end of his life (Lassus published a similar set), for two of them are included here for Christmas and Epiphany. These two sets were the first to offer something to replace the chants that had always been sung at this place in the Mass. Richard Marlow (31:1) gave us one of the most extensive collections of these pieces. I look forward to the continuation of this series, impatient with the prospect of one disc per year. How long will this go on?
FANFARE: J. F. Weber
Per il Santissimo Natale
A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection, Vol. 2 / The Sixteen

It's no secret that if you're looking for a well-filled, thoughtfully programmed disc of Christmas choral music, you won't go wrong with any of The Sixteen's recordings. In 2006 this oft-lauded group led by founder Harry Christophers released a Volume 1 program of traditional carols, and this year (2010) decided to augment that release with a collection of 20 more favorites (including a few lesser-known pieces). Performed with the knowing style of a seasoned, professional British choir, these songs, hymns, and carols (all very loosely categorized here as "carols")--such gems as Holst's Masters in this hall, Poston's Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, and Darke's beloved In the bleak mid-winter--ring in the season intensified and made more meaningful by the choir's authority and respect for the music, its revered tradition, and with an obvious true love for its sound and inherent spirit.
Although Christophers mentions in the notes that selections were drawn from the 1928 Oxford Book of Carols, and certainly such pieces as the Gloucester Wassail, the Wexford Carol, and In dulci jubilo were at least partially lifted from that source, the provenance of many others is not so clearly evident (Of the Father's heart begotten, for example, isn't included in the 1928 OBC), although in some cases the popular "green" and "orange" carol books may have been consulted.
At any rate, these arrangements are all artful and refreshingly unadorned--in the best "traditional" realizations; where there is organ, its contributions are always tasteful, imaginative, and appropriate to support and/or enhance the singers. And as for the singers, well, this is one of the great, world-class choirs, its uniquely rich, vibrant sound characterized by pure-voiced sopranos and its contingent of male altos. The production and sound, from London's St. Giles Church, Cripplegate, presided over by the first-rate team of Mark Brown and Mike Hatch, is excellent. A solid and satisfying addition to any Christmas music library.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Sounds Sublime - The Essential Collection / Christophers, The Sixteen
R E V I E W:
British choir the Sixteen is billed as being among "the Voices of Classic FM," the impressively successful British independent classical radio network. This mixed-gender adult group of (natch) 16 voices performs music ranging from the early English Renaissance to Mozart and, on occasion, the Romantics. An objection to their style might be that they tend to sound similar in all these repertories. This double-CD "essential collection" tends to reinforce that idea, but it also showcases the group's considerable strengths. To put it briefly, the Sixteen makes early music go down easy and does so without turning it completely into something different. The vocal surfaces are gorgeous, and each album contains a note by director Harry Christophers that touches on connections between the music's origins and its resonances in our own time. They sweat the details and that has never been more apparent than in this greatest-hits release. Most of the time such albums are left to label underlings and produced without imagination, but this one is beautifully packaged and has a full new set of notes concisely explaining the album's fresh concept. That concept is well thought-out; the album is not just a random selection of tracks somehow judged to be the best of the Sixteen, whose music-making is nothing if not consistent. Instead, each piece chosen is associated with a specific historical event, many of them significant junctures in British history. You couldn't ask for a better place to start in approaching unfamiliar music than to get a basic grip on its context in this way and then have it very attractively performed. The remastering is very strong; there's little sense of shifting sonic perspective even though the originals are drawn from a wide variety of this prolific group's releases. All this makes the album a fine introduction to one of modern Britain's most successful vocal groups.
-- All Music Guide
CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
Hodie - An English Christmas Collection / The Sixteen
Starring Christmas / Neary, Winchester Cathedral Choir
The sacred space of Winchester Cathedral has echoed to music every day for almost a thousand years, inspiring worshippers and visitors alike. Winchester Cathedral is home to a Cathedral Choir which, under the leadership of Martin Neary, was internationally regarded as one of the greatest choirs of England.
in 1973, Philips Classics brought out an album of Christmas carols in its series of quadraphonic recordings with the Winchester Cathedral Choir directed by Neary. PentaTone has digitally remastered this essential recording using DSD technology and is now releasing it in superb surround sound, as part of its RQR series.
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols / The Sixteen
Britten's 'A Ceremony of Carols' is a masterpiece composed on board ship as Britten returned to England from the U.S.A. in 1948, a touching evocation of boyhood lost but never forgotten. 'A Boy was Born' is a work that first made Britten famous, based on a theme and variations of astonishing ingenuity. The 'Missa Brevis', written for the boys of Westminster Cathedral, is a gem that is some ways looks forward to the 'War Requiem' which came two years later.
Bach: Weihnachtskantaten (Christmas Cantatas)
Distler, H.: Weihnachtsgeschichte (Die)
A Danish Christmas - Carols By Nielsen, Gade, Et Al / Holten
Includes work(s) by Carl Nielsen (Composer), Niels Gade, Christoph Ernst F. Weyse, Johan Peter E. Hartmann, Peter E. Lange-Müller. Ensemble: Musica Ficta Vocal Ensemble Copenhagen. Conductor: Bo Holten.
GLAD TIDINGS
Sing We Now Of Christmas - Six Centuries Of European Christmas Music
Recorded at Paine Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Houghton Chapel, Wellesley College, Boston, Massachusetts in Spring, 1991. Includes liner notes by Susan Cooper.
CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL
Our Favorite Things / Tony Bennett, Charlotte Church, Plácido Domingo, Vanessa Williams
1. Christmas Song, The - (with Tony Bennett)
2. O Holy Night - (with Charlotte Church/Plácido Domingo)
3. Do You Hear What I Hear - (with Vanessa Williams)
4. Jesus De Nazareth - (with Plácido Domingo)
5. Winter Wonderland - (with Tony Bennett/Vanessa Williams)
6. Silent Night - (with Charlotte Church)
7. My Favorite Things - (with Vanessa Williams/Tony Bennett/Plácido Domingo)
8. White Christmas - (with Tony Bennett/Vanessa Williams)
9. Hacia Belen Va Un Burro - (with Plácido Domingo)
10. Through The Eyes Of A Child - (with Vanessa Williams)
11. First Noel, The - (with Tony Bennett/Plácido Domingo)
12. Somewhere In My Memory - (with Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Chorus)
13. I Saw Three Ships - (with Plácido Domingo/Vanessa Williams)
14. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - (with Tony Bennett)
15. Hijo De Dios - (with Plácido Domingo)
16. I'll Be Home For Christmas - (with Tony Bennett/Plácido Domingo)
17. Joy To The World - (with Plácido Domingo/Vanessa Williams)
18. Angels We Have Heard On High - (with Tony Bennett/Vanessa Williams/Plácido Domingo)
19. Silent Night
20. One More Year - (with Plácido Domingo/Vanessa Williams)
Musicians include: Tony Bennett, Charlotte Church, Placido Domingo, Vanessa Williams (vocals); Steven Mecurio (conductor); Ralph Sharon Quartet; Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Children's Choir; Vienna Symphony.
Recorded live at the Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria in December 2000.
This stellar line-up, recorded live in Vienna, performs a program of quintessential Christmas songs in a rich variety of styles, from the light pop of "My Favorite Things" to traditional Spanish tunes such as "Hacia Belen Va Un Burro" and English equivalents like "Angels We Have Heard on High." Tony Bennett kicks the whole thing off with a typically warm rendition of "The Christmas Song." He's followed by a pretty straight reading of "O Holy Night" by the Welsh teen classical prodigy Charlotte Church and the inimitable Placido Domingo, and Vannessa Williams' gospel-tinged version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
It's an evening of familiar favorites, impeccably performed, with the added bonus of the Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Children's Choir providing an appropriately child's-eye view of the holiday. OUR FAVORITE THINGS is a worthy addition to the bulging repertoire of Christmas collections, in a gimmick-free traditional setting.
Valse De Noel: An Acadian-Cajun Christmas Revels
Christmas in Sweden / Pöntinen, Fagius, Mattei
Includes traditional hymn(s). Ensemble: Joculatores Upsalienses. Soloists: Roland Pöntinen, Hans Fagius, Peter Mattei.
Bach: Weihnachts Oratorium / Christophers, The Sixteen
The Christmas Oratorio is one of Bach's greatest masterpieces and this recording is one of The Sixteen's finest. Mark Padmore is one of today's greatest 'Evangelist's', and this recording shows him at his very best. With an ever-swelling fan-base during the busiest media-quarter for the group with radio, broadsheet and music magazine coverage that will be the envy of competitors, this vivid and passionate Christmas release really should be on many shopping lists. 'Superlative...demonstrating all The Sixteen's familiar virtues.' BBC Music Magazine
HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO: Hot Club Cool Yule
BALLADS OF THE SEPHARDIC JEWS
Christmas with The Westminster Choir
Previously released as Gothic 49047.
CHRISTMAS MUSIC AND TRADITIONAL CAROLS - Sing Choirs of Ange
