The 2025 Holiday Collection
Over 700 holiday titles are on sale now at ArkivMusic!
Discover the latest holiday titles and Christmas classics with The 2025 Holiday Collection at ArkivMusic, including releases from legendary choirs such as The Sixteen and the Brigham Young University Choirs, iconic orchestras such as the Dresdner Philharmonie and the Wiener Concert-Verein, and more.
Start shopping The 2025 Holiday Collection now — and don't forget to check out The 2025 Gift Guide and the 2025 Best Sellers sale!
Sale ends 9:00am ET, Monday, January 5th, 2026.
49 products
Christmas Star - Carols For The Christmas Season / Rutter, Cambridge Singers
REVIEW:
Christmas Star is an entertaining collection of familiar holiday tunes and carols, all professionally performed by the Cambridge Singers. This is good, straight a cappella holiday music and should satisfy fans of that style[.]
– All Music Guide (Stephen Thomas Erlewine)
Down Came An Angel - Music for Christmas / Jacqueline Schwab
Best known for her solo piano soundtracks to Ken Burns's PBS documentaries, Schwab has a quaint, inviting touch on the keyboard and a wonderful appreciation of Appalachian musical tradition. The result is a warm, familiar Christmas sound filled with nostalgia. Schwab's piano shimmers with a delightful tone, like a parlor with a fireplace on a snowy day.
Though the album is entirely instrumental, the traditional hymns, carols, and spirituals were meant to be sung. To that end, the producers have included lyric sheets, giving families the opportunity to gather around the piano once again to experience a Christmas tradition.
A Choral Christmas / Jones, Trinity Choir Of Boston
The opening tune indeed is by John Rutter, a setting of the 15th-century text "Sing we to this merry company", and it's quickly followed by the Luboff arrangement, Gerald Near's setting of Ding! dong! merrily on high, and the well-known Pearsall version of In dulci jubilo. The combination of familiarity and audience-favorite continues throughout the rest of the 21 selections, with classics such as Rutter's all-time most-popular What sweeter music, Elizabeth Poston's Jesus Christ the apple tree, and Poulenc's motet O magnum mysterium. But mixed in among these revered gems are many less well-known pieces, including a snazzy, bluesy Noël nouvelet arranged by Stephen Jackson, Michael Head's charming and lovely The little road to Bethlehem, and of course a Charles Wood arrangement, Once as I remember (Wood is a Jones favorite).
The choir, one of North America's treasures, always is a treat to hear, displaying not only an enormous stylistic command but also uncommon technical range and interpretive sensitivity. I've said this before, but it's still true: The soprano section would be the envy of any choir. However, the entire ensemble manages a consistent cohesiveness and sonic refinement that's rare among amateur choirs in any part of the world. Even in small details, the choir shows extraordinary care and attention--for instance, in the perfectly rendered endings to the simple but so-often-troublesome "Gloria" line in Ding! dong! merrily on high. And for sheer strength and unity of sound, listen to the choir's rendition of Holst's On this day earth shall ring. Other highlights include Bob Chilcott's Mid-winter, a setting of the Christina Rossetti text "In the bleak mid-winter" that's become an instant favorite all over the world. Jones himself contributes a very effective arrangement of O little town of Bethlehem that joins the two "competing" tunes St. Louis and Forest Green. Although I would prefer a warmer, softer-edged sound in the Poulenc to really capture the "mysterium" in the work, and slightly better-tuned tenors in some places (What sweeter music, for example), this is a first rate recording that will satisfy all listeners looking for an ideal all-around Christmas choral collection. The sound, made in Boston's Trinity Church, captures the detail of choir, organ, and occasional percussion while faithfully capturing the fullness and resonance of the church's magnificent space.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Telemann: Christmas Oratorio & Cantatas / Ludger Rémy
American Record Guide raves "...These are state-of-the-art early-music performances, German style, with a good deal of technical polish and energy....The soloists are admirable, especially bass Klaus Mertens....Tenor Andreas Post has a light, reedy sound that is well suited to the idiom."
Rimsky-korsakov: Christmas Eve, Etc / Golovschin, Moscow So
Telemann: Christmas Cantatas / Remy, Magdeburger Kammerchor
Christmas Organ Music / Kevin Bowyer
Christmas Wonderland / Vänskä, Laulupuu Choir, Lahti So
Includes work(s) by Jean Sibelius, various composers. Ensembles: Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Laulupuu Choir Lahti. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
Holidays & Epiphanies - Music Of Ron Nelson / Jerry Junkin
This selection is a High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) recording.
Bright Day Star / Baltimore Consort
One of the finest Christmas recordings ever made, this 1994 production by the Baltimore Consort makes a welcome return (complete with a new cover) along with the revival of the Dorian label. Glowing with the high, clear soprano of Custer LaRue and brimming with versatile, virtuoso instrumental work by Mary Anne Ballard (viols, rebec), Mark Cudek (cittern, Baroque guitar, viols, bandora), Larry Lipkis (viol, recorder, gemshorn), Ronn McFarlane (lute), Chris Norman (wooden flutes, pennywhistle), and Webb Wiggins (organ), this program literally lives up to the promise of its title.
Many of these 20 tunes/carols/dances are among the most familiar Christmas standards--Ding dong merrily on high; Greensleeves; Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen; In dulci jubilo; The Cherry Tree Carol; Tomorrow shall be my dancing day--presented in both vocal/instrumental and strictly instrumental arrangements. But whatever the tune, and however it's presented, the result is invariably engaging, artful, classy, and infinitely repeatable, which means it's perfect for multiple repetitions, whether at Christmas or any other time of year. Chris Norman's flute improvisation on "Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen" is a classic, and Custer LaRue's rendition of the beautiful "Rorate coeli desuper" is not to be missed. In fact, that last instruction applies to this entire disc. If you're a Christmas music fan (and who isn't?) and you don't already own this CD, you know what you have to do.
-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Home For The Holidays / Eaken Piano Trio
All proceeds earned by the Eaken Piano Trio from this recording will be donated to Habitat for Humanity, International.
Christmas Concerti / Krcek, Capella Istropolitana
Night of Silence
The Many Moods of Christmas
Gabriel's Message - One Thousand Years Of Carols
Prima Voce - The Spirit Of Christmas Past
Includes a star was his candle. Soloists: Lawrence Tibbett, Stewart Wille.
I'll Be Home For The Holidays / Eaken Piano Trio
Sing We Noël - Traditional Carols From St. John's Cathedral
2. What Child is This?
3. Ding Dong Merrily on High
4. Sing we to this merry company
5. The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (arr. M. Allen)
6. The Little Road to Bethlehem
7. The Holly and the Ivy (arr. J. Rutter): The holy and the ivy
8. Carol of the Bells (arr. P. Wilhousky)
9. God rest you merry, gentlemen
10. The First Nowell
11. The Carol of the Angels
12. I saw three ships
13. Come, love we God
14. Torches, Op. 7a
15. Wexford Carol
16. Angels we have heard on high
17. Away in a manger (arr. J. Van)
18. Good King Wenceslas
19. Sussex Carol
20. A Merry Christmas
21. O Holy Night (Cantique de Noel) (arr. J. Rutter)
22. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Merry Christmas / Chicago Brass Quintet
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker - Highlights / Ondrej Lenárd
Deak, J.: The Passion of Scrooge or A Christmas Carol
Christmas Carols From Tewkesbury Abbey / Andrew Sackett
Christmas Carols / Donald Hunt, Worcester Cathedral Choir
Christmas Songs / Tölz Boys' Choir
The Mystery Of Christmas / Edison, Elora Festival Singers
Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Elora Festival Singers. Conductor: Noel Edison. Soloist: Michael Bloss.
