The Best Christmas Carols Album In The World...Ever!

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The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, who were founded in the 15th century, is undoubtedly one of the world’s best known choral groups – and their festive concerts have become internationally famous. One of the carols on which they excel is “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” which originated as a French dance tune. The lyrics, which include the stirring Latin line “Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis,” were written by English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward. It’s a gorgeous traditional carol. Choir Of King’s College, Cambridge: O Come All Ye Faithful A perfectly balanced seasonal feast, where kitsch – I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas – coexists with heartbreak set to weeping pedal steel guitar on Christmas Makes Me Cry, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer meets A Willie Nice Christmas, a weed-addled duet with Willie Nelson that urges listeners to get “higher than the angel on top of the tree”. 11. Loretta Lynn – Country Christmas (1966)

Right after World War II, when Muddy Waters was roughing up the blues in Chicago, Charles Brown was smoothing them out in Los Angeles. In 1947, he wrote and sang the most enduring R&B Christmas song ever penned, “Merry Christmas, Baby,” (though the credit went to his bandleader Johnny Moore), later the basis for one of Elvis Presley’s greatest performances. He also sang and wrote “Please Come Home for Christmas,” another timeless standard. Never has an artist been better served by the December holiday. —Geoffrey Himes First composed in 1684, ‘Sussex Carol’earned its name when Ralph Vaughan Williams set the text to music in the late 1800s, after he heard it being sung near Sussex.Undoubtedly one of the world’s best Christmas carols, “O Little Town Of Bethlehem” features a lyric by 19th-century Episcopal priest Philip Brooks, who was inspired by a visit to the Holy Land. His Philadelphia church organist Lewis Redner wrote the music the hymn is set to in the US, but in the UK it’s set to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Forest Green.” Bryn Terfel, Orchestra Of The Welsh National Opera: In The Bleak Midwinter There’s a delicious tang and freshness to the singing and the period-instrument accompaniments. A second disc has random ‘greatest hits’ of Baroque music, including Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, and Corelli’s Christmas Concerto. No fewer than half the choir’s two-dozen members step out for solos, revealing the in-depth quality of Earley’s singers. The glowing tonal blend that he elicits is a constant pleasure, and there’s a real emotional connection in the performances.

The merriment here is rather sober, but not without its charms. There’s some welcome sparkle in Bednall’s brass writing and Chilcott’s entry has a wistfully sweet innocence. O Holy Night Following a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rector Phillips Brooks wrote the text to this hymn after he was inspired by the view of Bethlehem from the hills of Palestine. Three years later in 1871, his church organist Lewis Redner wrote the melody for the local Sunday school children’s choir. All the words from your favourite carols, but unexpected music galore – thanks to interesting new settings by a varied quartet of composers. Well sung, though the sound is quite close.Schütz’s Italianate oratorio is one of the masterpieces of the early Baroque and is performed beautifully here. Voices and instruments are superbly balanced within the rich recorded texture. Adventa Joachim Badenhorst (clarinet), Heida Arnadottir (voals), Hilmar Jensson (guitar), Kristin Thora Haraldsdottir (viola), Eirikus Orri Olafsson (trumpet) Winter & Winter 910 260-2 An octet of singers from the Trinity Boys Choir presents seasonal music from a bygone age. Necessarily staid, perhaps, but with a warm, intimate atmosphere nonetheless. In which the cream of A&M Records’ easy listening artists – Herb Alpert, Burt Bacharach and Sérgio Mendez among them – offer up a Christmas album as velvety-smooth as eggnog. The highlight: Claudine Longet’s delicate confection of strings, acoustic guitar and breathy vocals, Snow. 18. Various artists – Ghosts of Christmas Past (1981)