Monday, December 20, 2010

favorite Christmas music

I got this idea from the Long ladies' list of favorite Christmas movies and cds.

I have a good assortment of Christmas music, but a handful of very favorite ones -


This one I originally had on tape, bought from a catalog which featured things from England. I love A Christmas Carol, and it was called Inside Fezziwig's, so how could I resist it? By a fellow named Ed Sweeney along with some other musicians, it's a lively mix of dancing melodies.  After a few years, the tape got distorted and I was in a panic, but my faithful friend (Cyndi Lou Who) found it on cd at Amazon with a different name.


One of my jobs at the library is to purchase music - mostly classical, some jazz, holiday music (of course!), along with this person, who buys mostly pop. I like to get things from different cultures, and I got this one from Musical Heritage Society. It's from a music school in Sweden and I fell in love with it. I'm not Scandinavian at all, but I love to listen to it. The acoustics are wonderful, the singing is wonderful, and the way Peter Mattei sings O Holy Night is terrific.


Here's another discovery from MHS - Julianne Baird singing a Renaissance program at the Metroplitan Museum of Art in NYC.


These two are my absolute, absolute favorites - the Cambridge Singers can't be surpassed. Both of these are perfect, and I can't think of anything more to say about it!


My father was a musician, and loved Sinatra more than any other singer, so we grew up hearing him, and I still like him. I've heard other of his Christmas recordings, but they're a bit too jazzy for me - this one is quieter, but with some cheerful songs as well. A very nice collection.                                                                  
                                                                            




                                                                                
                                                                             
                                                                   

4 comments:

  1. My parents had that Sinatra Christmas album...good stuff =]

    P.S. I want to hear the Scandinavian CD tomorrow!

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  2. I put some of this same music on my Christmas station on Pandora, good music!

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  3. I'd love to hear the Scandinavian one, too... or the Renaissance one. My favourite Christmas album is an LP with Christmas songs from the 15th century. And my absolute favourite from there is probably Danielis Prophetia - it seems the song is widespread enough in the world for you to be able to find it. :-)

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  4. I will have to look up that one!

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