Gift Guides,
Christmas Releases 2020
In music, as in so much else, Christmas 2020 is at once familiar and alien. Favourite works we all know and love have inspired new recordings, such as Clare College with Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and La Capella Reial de Catalunya with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The Balthasar-Neumann-Chor and Chanticleer offer globe-trotting selections of carols from right around the world, the chapel choirs of Winchester College and St Catharine’s Cambridge showcase contemporary writing, and the Kölner Akademie and London Oratory Schola Cantorum, among others, have mined some true gems from the half-forgotten corners of the seasonal Renaissance and Baroque repertoire.
But in a year marked by isolation and lockdowns that have curtailed communal musicmaking, a new form of Christmas music has inevitably come to prominence: solo arrangements. Two albums of solo transcriptions have particularly captivated me this year – Rossini Hayward’s selection of traditional favourites, characterfully arranged for solo guitar, and John Rutter’s collection of his own anthems and carols in new versions for the piano. It’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention, and while neither of these albums can embody the kind of Christmas soundworld that we’re used to, both possess a unique charm and are very much worth a listen in this most unusual of years.
A Britten-centred programme, including some rarely-heard items such as his Hymn to St Peter and The Sycamore Tree, and sprinkled with contributions from his mentor Frank Bridge, Gustav Holst and John Ireland. At the heart sit the ever-popular A Ceremony of Carols, the glorious Te Deum in C and the reflective Hymn to the Virgin.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The sound of Onyx Brass lifts this collection of Christmas favourites from Winchester College Chapel Choir - Cecilia McDowall's A Winter's Night is a particularly effective miniature cycle, and the traditional carols are resplendent in festal arrangements for choir, organ and brass.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Described as "Renaissance polyphony at its finest", this box of treasures from the London Oratory Schola Cantorum does not disappoint; alongside well-known works such as Gabrieli's O Magnum Mysterium and Sweelinck's exuberant Hodie are less often-heard Christmas motets by Mouton, Clemens, Nanino, Sheppard and others. The choir, of course, excel – though the atmospheric acoustic of the Oratory itself plays a vital supporting role.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
It wouldn't be Christmas without the wonderful pastorale that closes Corelli's concerto grosso, widely known as the 'Christmas Concerto'. Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen explore beyond Corelli's famous work, showcasing a whole range of Italian Christmas Concertos, including works by Vivaldi, Torelli, Locatelli and Manfredini.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
From Baroque Italy to Baroque Germany - the works of Bach's illustrious predecessors at the Thomaskirche deserve to be better known, and this recording from the Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble makes the case for them vividly. The most striking work of all has to be Knüpfer's expansive and ceremonial Dies est laetitiae featuring choir, six soloists, orchestra and no fewer than five supplementary trumpet parts.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Bach was by no means the only composer to write cantatas for the church year; Telemann is thought to have produced more than 1,700, many of them for Advent and Christmas. The Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens present world-premiere recordings of four of these cantatas.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The wide-ranging talents of US vocal ensemble Chanticleer are on full display in this album - opening with works from the Renaissance period which the group was founded to sing, and taking in well-loved carols and Christmas songs from all round the world. Rosephanye Powell's gospel-inspired A Christmas Medley and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi's stirring setting of Staffan var en stalledräng particularly stand out.
Available Format: CD
With traditional Christmas gatherings difficult in much of the world, there have been several albums released this year that present a more intimate version of the celebration – none more so than this collection of well-loved carols arranged for solo guitar by Rossini Hayward. Hayward's skill at this task is clear – the arrangements are widely varied, drawing an incredible range of sonorities from the instrument.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The range of music inspired by Christmas across the European continent is enormous, and much of it is rarely heard. Thomas Hengelbrock and the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor take us on a tour encompassing England, Russia, Iceland, Catalonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and more for a truly pan-European celebration of the festive season.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
JS Bach: Christmas Oratorio
Katja Stuber, Raffaele Pe, Martin Platz, Thomas Stimmel; Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Jordi Savall
Bach's Christmas Oratorio is one of the towering peaks among his output, a mighty work in six sections that takes us from Christmas through to Epiphany. Jordi Savall and his Catalan musicians bring their customary focus and musicianship to a work that never fails to lift the spirits as the nights draw in.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Alpha & O: Music for Advent & Christmas
The Choirs of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Edward Wickham
A choral Christmas collection emphasising contemporary works from St Catharine's College Cambridge - Christopher Fox's new setting of the age-old 'O' Antiphons that meditate on various aspects of the coming of the Messiah is interspersed with works by Jeremy Thurlow, Joanna Forbes L'Estrange, Judith Weir and others.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
John Rutter's globally-popular music as you've never heard it before - arranged for solo piano by the composer over the UK's first lockdown period earlier in the year. Favourite Rutter anthems from throughout the year are included, alongside seven Christmas carols.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The John Rutter Christmas Piano Album
8 of his best-loved seasonal choral pieces in new transcriptions for solo piano
The seven carols recorded as part of John Rutter - The Piano Collection, plus Christ our Emmanuel, are now published by Oxford University Press in arrangements described as "skilful and approachable".
Available Format: Sheet Music
David Smith - Head of Digital
