Your parents and mine kept many Christmas-sy LPs in the cabinet and played them two weeks out of the year, in the middle of December. I grew up with A Lawrence Welk Christmas, Christmas with Mitch Miller and the Boys, and the classic 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' with Nat King Cole. My parents stopped just short of Frank Sinatra in Bethlehem with Jilly Rizzo. I have my own favorites for the season. I've long worn out the LPS. I'm in the second generation of some CD copies, and CDs aren't supposed to wear out. New in 2014: Sing Thee Nowell with New York Polyphony. The trend with all male a capella groups continues. These four guys sound like an orchestra. They mix medieval music with sounds of the 21st century, proving that everything old IS new again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNJ19GExy-8 Silent Night with Seraphic Fire conducted by Patrick Dupre Quigley A Florida based choral ensemble founded by Mr. Quigley. Serpahic Fire's CDs are superbly produced, i.e. they sound great. Again, there's a wonderful balance of the traditional with music by Stephen Paulus, Craig Hella Johnson and Steven Sametz. Christmas in New York with Renee Fleming I admit I have yet to unwrap this CD. I also admit that Renee Fleming can be irresistible. Why resist? She can get a bit too popp-y but that's just me being a jerk. Wynton Marsalis, Rufus Wainwright and Kelli O'Hara are a few of the artists joining La Renee, all gifted, none as gorgeous as she. Joy to the World: The Columbus Gay Men's Chorus conducted by my bud Tim Sarsany. Is this greatest choral singing ever? No. This is a wonderful program of holiday music, sung beautifully by an outstanding local choir. On stage are they more musician or more political. On recording why choose? The chorus sounds great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU2AuINHhhI and for the desert island at Christmas.... Leontyne Price Christmas . Did you ever see the austere conductor Herbert von Karajan in a Santa Claus hat? No you did not. Still, he humanized himself nicely for this recording made in Vienna in 1961. But the point is neither the Vienna Philharmonic nor the Chorus of the Vienna State Opera. The point here is the glorious voice of the young Leontyne Price. Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the Angels should sound so good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su5haJrEuag Sing We Noel: Christmas from England and Early America with the Boston Camerata conducted by Joel Cohen When I was in college I wanted to audition for the Boston Camerata. Dream on. I've loved their work since I was 12. This was recorded in the 70s. In those days I lived in a basement apartment in Boston. Three pilots from Air Nigeria lived across the hall. One of their ideas of a party was blasting track 1 of this CD day and night. I loved it. I never complained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TviaACXGQnM Messiah with Joan Sutherland, Huguette Tourangeau, Werner Krenn and Tom Krause. Richard Bonynge conducts The English Chamber Orchestra and chorus. This 1970 recording was the first to ornament the solo lines. What else are you gonna do when Mrs. Bonynge aka Dame Joan Sutherland is the soprano soloist? The contralto is a party and Tom Krause's singing of "The people that walked in darkness" is a treasure. Wonderful choral work, except for a bizarre ritard in the midst of the Hallelujah chorus! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPunmAvj36s
Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.