The celebration of YULE in Northern Europe harks back to a transition from ancient Pagan Germanic culture to the more formal spirituality of the newer Christian rite.
Christmas, as we mostly now call it, gave us hymns, processions and chants, and in between, silence in church. Yule meant a vibrant pre-Christian secularity, with feasting and dancing, the noise of instruments and decorating the house with holly, ivy and mistletoe as a tribute to the gods of earth and air.
Much of the music on this album dates from an earlier time when in a throwback to Yule churches were decorated with Christmas greenery, and at home there would be carols sung round a burning Yule log, the two traditions side by side. But the songs on this album are contemporary performances, a matrix where acappella voices meet improvising instruments in a synthesis of secular and sacred.
Hailed as a "fascinating journey with music of timeless beauty", Trio Mediæval's acclaimed first disc "Words of the Angel" in 2001 launched the group into the elite circles of early music ensembles and introduced them to a broad international audience.
Formed in 1997, the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble consists of founder members Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Anna Maria Friman, and Jorunn Lovise Husan, who joined the group in 2018.
Uranienborg Vokalensemble Releases Fred over Joden
Editor's Note: Description below is that of the ensemble or label.
Releases November 22, 2024.
Advent and Christmas are for many people a time for light and hope and warmth. Yet the world around us is cold and turbulent. Wars are being fought. People are fleeing from their homes. Children are dying. Thousands of people lack food and medicine. Our prayers are for peace. We sing "Beautiful is our Earth! Glorious is God’s heaven!" as a protest song for peace and justice, the world being unjust.
During Advent many of us are fond of the familiar and much-loved Christmas carols as we remember them from our childhood, and as they have been sung for generations. There are carols in these traditional arrangements on this album, but there are others in completely new arrangements, made specially for Uranienborg Vokalensemble and for this recording.
Christmas can be a festival that intensifies our feelings – what is good seems even better, and what hurts feels even more painful. Perhaps we have lost someone close to us: can we then sing "Oh, Christmas, so cheerful"? We know that there are people who look forward to Christmas but at the same time dread it, and we believe that Kjetil Bjerkestrand's arrangement brings out this element of equivocation and irony. The birth of Jesus – this is the message of Christmas! – a birth that changed the world for ever. May your Christmas be peaceful!
German Baritone Benjamin Appl Releases "The Christmas Album" on Outhere Music
German baritone Benjamin Appl celebrates Christmas through the enduring tradition of Bach chorales and popular carols, from as far afield as Germany, Austria, America, Britain, Sweden and France.
For this truly universal Christmas celebration he is accompanied by Germany's most famous children's choir, of which he was a member in his youth, the Munich Radio Orchestra and instrumentalists (including his own mother on guitar): "Christmas evokes intense memories and emotions in all of us. It takes us back to our childhood: that sense of magic and excitement, so often reawakened by the sight of a traditional Nativity scene, or the lights on a Christmas tree, or by hearing Christmas carols…It was with all these images in mind that I returned to my hometown to record this album with 'my' boys’ choir.
When, after more than twenty years, I found myself back among the choristers and heard the familiar sound, the emotion was very intense."
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea Releases "A Christmas Fantasia" on Albion
Editor's Note: Description below is that of the label.
This is Albion’s third Christmas album with William Vann and his Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. It mainly comprises carols and fantasias of the first half of the twentieth century, by Ralph Vaughan Williams, his friends and former students. These are carols for choral, rather than for congregational, singing.
The more contemporary exception is a new carol by William Vann himself, composed for the recording, setting a poem by the poet and composer Ivor Gurney.
Two of the longer works can justly be called ‘fantasias’: Vaughan Williams’s well-known "Fantasia on Christmas Carols" and Gustav Holst’s "Christmas Day," which deserves to be every bit as popular.
There are premiere recordings of works by Rebecca Clarke, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs and Gerald Finzi in addition to William Vann’s Carol – and there are even two first recordings of carols from Herefordshire by Vaughan Williams set for a capella SATB. Other carols are by John Ireland, Herbert Howells and Elizabeth Maconchy.
The majority of the carols and fantasias are unaccompanied, but six of the 16 works are accompanied on the organ by Jamie Riches. The distinguished bass-baritone Ashley Riches joins the choir for three works.
It was recorded at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, London on 12 and 13 February 2024.
Gjermund Larsen Trio´s “Christmas Sessions” on Heilo
Editor's Note: Description below is that of the label.
Gjermund Larsen Trio´s “Christmas Sessions” is a warm and intimate Christmas album. The trio lets the melodies shine with a strong folk music identity.
After nearly 20 years of playing their own compositions, Gjermund Larsen Trio is now releasing their first Christmas album. In a beautiful, folk-inspired musical landscape, the trio interprets well-known and beloved Christmas songs in their own unique way.
Gjermund Larsen Trio, consisting of Gjermund Larsen (fiddle), Andreas Utnem (harmonium/piano), and Sondre Meisfjord (double bass), has received high praise, acclaim, and numerous awards since their debut release in 2008, including a Norwegian Grammy award (2008), the German Phonographic Critics Award (2015), and the TONO Composer Award (2016).
The trio had long wanted to make a Christmas album but hadn’t found the time to realize the project until now. When Gjermund Larsen Trio performed with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir on their Christmas album “Veni – Songs of Christmas II” in 2022, it sparked even more motivation to begin their own Christmas project.
This fall, with just three recording days available, the trio entered Amper Tone Studio. The process was inspiring, intense, and productive. Gjermund Larsen explains:
– We had sketches, ideas, and thoughts about how we wanted to shape the music, but it took its final form and shape during three intense studio days. It’s both daunting and exciting to release music that everyone knows and has a strong attachment to. We selected the Christmas music we like best and gave it our own signature. Releasing Christmas music now also feels right for reasons beyond the purely musical ones. Many Christmas songs carry a powerful message of peace, something that is unfortunately more relevant than ever in these times!
With harmonium featured in all tracks, they create a warm and beautiful Christmas atmosphere. The intimate arrangements fit the repertoire well, keeping the overall feel natural and unpretentious. Gjermund continues:
– We believe this release will make an important contribution to the ever-growing jungle of Christmas albums. The album is instrumental, and the arrangements are original and unembellished. We play with a strong folk music identity, which we believe many will find familiar. In many ways, Christmas music today is everyone’s folk music.
1. Det kimer nå til julefest 03:22 2. Jeg er så glad hver julekveld 03:29 3. Stille natt 04:01 4. O jul med din glede 02:29 5. O helga Natt 04:21 6. Home for christmas 03:55 7. Du grønne glitrende tre 02:19 8. Det hev ei rose sprunge 02:56 9. Joleklokker over jordi 03:20 10. O Little town of Bethlehem 03:25 11. Deilig er Jorden 02:30
Is there room at the inn for the Ambient Christmas Song?
by R. Rojas
I ask the question about the Ambient Christmas Song because I
believe this is a true genre of Christmas music. It is a needed genre in which more
composers and songwriters need to write/compose in.
The Ambient Christmas Songs are a few Christmas songs that
describe the present ambient of a “Christmas time and space.”
Unlike other Christmas songs, there is no dreaming or
telling someone they will be home. It is not a joy-luck song or carol.
It’s as if a person was sitting in a Lazy-Boy at the family Christmas
gathering and just observing. What he/she observes is described in poetic
detail filling the listener with warmth.
Of course, the king of these Ambient Christmas Songs, is the
appropriately named “The Christmas Song” written and composed by Mel Torme and Robert
Wells.
"The Christmas Song" sung by
its co-writer/composer Mel Torme
In “The Christmas Song,” the narrator is describing the “now,”
talking about “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” He describes the cold, the
sounds, the food, the décor, and the dress of people.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
The narrator goes on to describe the children, “their eyes
all aglow,” and describes what is in the thoughts of these children. Again, it
is like one is sitting in the corner at your Christmas party observing.
Everybody
knows a turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight
“Christmas Walz” also does this, and deliberately. Frank
Sinatra asked Sammy Cahn for a song like “The Christmas Song,” one Sinatra
could make his own.
Again, the narrator is there -- in a certain time and space
-- observing:
Frosted windowpanes
Candles gleaming inside
Painted candy canes on the tree
Santa's on his way
He's filled his sleigh with things
Things for you and for me
Although that is the only descriptive part of the song, it
still works into describing the ambience of a solitary Christmas moment. “The
Christmas Waltz” is short. Just two stanzas, but it does its job.
"The Christmas Waltz" sung Tony Bennett
with the Count Basie Orchestra
“Christmas Eve” by Carleton Carpenter, most famously sung by
Billy Eckstine, is another:
There's a candle in the window
There's a legend we believe
Santa, here's our plea, you can bet that he
wouldn't miss a Christmas Eve
There's a stocking on the fireplace
There are presents to receive
And there's mistletoe, where is Romeo?
Steals a kiss on Christmas Eve
“Christmas Eve” should be more popular than it is. In this
song, Carpenter’s lyrics describes what the narrator is seeing in the now:
“candle in the window.”
Billy Eckstine performing "Christmas Eve"
He goes on to observe the décor, the presents, and the
mistletoe. Then, he gently moves on to describe the nativity scene in a refrain
which later repeats:
In the corner, on a table
Underneath a shining star
Is the holy Christmas stable
And three wise men from afar
There is always a final commentary and contemplations from the narrators to end
these songs. It’s like a “Merry Christmas” wish, a “Happy New Year,” something
more spiritual, saying it “many times, many ways.”
Torme and Wells say:
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to 92
Although it's been said many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you
Sammy Cahn. in “Christmas Watz” give us:
It's that time of year when the world falls in love
Ev'ry song you hear seems to say "Merry Christmas,
"May your New Year dreams come true"
And this song of mine in three-quarter time
Wishes you and yours the same thing, too.
Carpenter closes “Christmas Eve” with a sort of peace on
earth, “wish Christmas can be everyday” request:
All this holiday contentment
All this love should never leave
We'd be doing right if we made each night
More like Christmas Eve
I do not put all songs in this category. I am sure there are
lesser-known Ambient Christmas Songs. These songs must be indoors. I do not
know why, but the Christmas party goer is observing. I know the chestnuts
roasting in “The Christmas Song” are roasting in an open fire. So maybe, it’s
outside, at least for that bit.
The Ambient Christmas Song remained largely an American
genre. This was at least until the 1980s when John Rutter, from across the pond
(UK), took a shot at it.
Take John Rutter’s “The Very Best Time of the Year” where he
starts with the ambient description and ends with the closing observance that
this is the “very best time of the year”:
Christmas trees and boughs of
holly,
Yuletide logs and mistletoe;
Candles burning bright, and
meadows frosty white,
And faces in the firelight′s glow;
Sounds of happy children's voices
Singing carols that you love to
hear;
Then the silence of the night
And the winter air so still and
clear.
Feels like you could reach and
touch the sky,
Or catch a star and fly away;
Feels like you could wish for
peace on earth,
And all at once it would come,
some day.
Families
and friends together
Feel
a special kind of love and cheer,
Sharing
all the joys of Christmas time,
The
very best time of year.
The
very best time,
That
strange, enchanted time,
That
shining, magic time of year.
In the John Rutter ChristmasAlbum (Collegium Records, 2002), Rutter states in
the liner notes, the American connections to this song.
"Best Time of the Year" performed by John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers, and the City of London Sinfonia
Written in 1984 as a gift
for two “noted American choral musicians who were among the first to welcome
the composer into the American choral community….” Rutter’s song is written for
chorus. The other Christmas Ambient Songs were written for solo voice but often
performed by choirs: “Christmas Walz,” more true for “The Christmas Song.” I
have only seen one choral performance of “Christmas Eve,” a video which I cannot find. However, the original recording by Eckstine has a chorus backing him.
"The Christmas Song " (arr. Arthur Harris) performed the Morman Tabernacle Choir (now the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square)
"The Christmas Waltz" performed by the All-American Boy Choir.
"Best Time of the Year" (arrangement
by Owain Park and Anna Lapwood)
performed by Pembroke College Chapel Choir
I tried to find other examples. Malcolm Williamson’s “This
Christmas Night.” D. Fraser’s “This
Christmastide (Jessye’s Carol).” However, they do not match up.
The simple solitary observation of a room at Christmas makes a great Christmas song and more composers and song writers should give the Ambient Christmas Song a try.
Carpenter's "Christmas Eve" performed by Adam Swanson
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