The Windsbacher Boys’ Choir is considered one of the best ensembles of its kind. Since its founding in 1946, it has stood for the synthesis of musicality, versatility, precision and purity of sound. Ludwig Böhme has been the new artistic director of the Windsbacher since 2022. The new Christmas album, for which they joined forces with the Berlin-based period instrument …
In Dulci Jubilo
Playlist
Medley: “Norwegian Wood/Greensleeves”
Chorale, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” & Ciaconna
Carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
Carols in German with period instrument ensemble
Carols in German (some originally in French and Latin)
The Christmas Album
Lieder specialist Benjamin Appl celebrates Christmas with sacred arias by Bach and Mendelssohn, carols from Germany, Austria, America, Britain, Sweden and France. Appl is accompanied by instrumentalists (including his own mother on guitar), the Munich Radio Orchestra, and Germany’s most famous children’s choir, Regensburger Domspatzen, of which he was a member in his youth. “I returned to my hometown to …
Playlist
Orchestrated art songs by Chaminade and Michael Head
Sacred arias by Bach and Mendelssohn
Carols in Latin, German, English, and Swedish
Martin: Have yourself a merry little Christmas (arr. Rutter)
Carols in Latin and German
A Lullaby Carol: Christmas At Christ Church
Comprised of a treble line of boy choristers and an ATB line of men and women, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford holds a distinctive place within the great English choral tradition. Unlike all other collegiate and cathedral choirs, it serves both an Oxford college and a diocese. The choir is revered for the vibrancy of its sound and …
Playlist
Piers Connor Kennedy: Three carols
Cheryl Frances-Hoad: “Good Day, Sir Christemas”
Simon Preston: “There Is No Rose”
Two carols for choir and organ arr. David Maw
Various carols
Christmas
Carlos Simon — Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair, and a member of The Blacknificent 7 — has already had his music performed by the world’s leading ensembles including the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Last Night of the Proms, the Cincinnati …
Playlist
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” arr. Simon
“O Come, All Ye Faithful” arr. Simon
“White Christmas” arr. Simon
Winter Gardens
The latest album from the prolific 25-year-old trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary features a collection of winter-themed popular songs by Richard Rodgers, Charlie Chaplin, and Hugh Martin alongside short movements from the classical repertoire by Dvořák, Rossini, Falla, Kreisler, Bach, and Vivaldi. Winter Gardens, which features the Paris Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sascha Goetzel, also features a work new to the …
Playlist
Falla: Seven Popular Spanish Songs (three songs)
Efraín Oscher: “Rapsodia latina” (complete + 2 excerpts)
Dvorák: “Slavonic Dances,” Op. 72
Bach: Erbarme dich and Badinerie
Chaplin: Swing Little Girl
H Martin: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
Rossini: “Giusto ciel” from The Siege of Corinth
Kreisler: “Miniature Viennese March”
Rodgers: “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music
Vivaldi: Largo from “The Four Seasons: Winter,” RV. 297
Brass at Christmas
A selection of John Rutter’s most famous Christmas carols in beautiful new arrangements for brass, performed by the Black Dyke Band. Rutter’s sense of melody combined with a rich harmonic palette makes his music instantly accessible to performers and audiences alike, making him one of the most acclaimed and successful composers of carols alive today. The Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, led …
Ukrainian Christmas
The Ukrainian violin virtuoso Solomiya Ivakhiv presents a selection of Ukrainian Christmas carols arranged for violin and orchestra. Accompanying Ivakhiv in these world premiere recordings is the Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serhii Khorovets. The soulful playing of Solomiya Ivakhiv, who grew up in Western Ukraine singing these songs, and the fanciful arrangements of Bohdan Kryvopust, born in …
