Christmas music: alternate tunes

[resonant]

The only Christmas carol tune that I actively dislike is "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (St. Louis), which I think is horribly schmaltzy. But even where I like the standard tune, sometimes I want a little variety.

Reminder: I'm looking for the following:

- A good choral performance of the Parker/Shaw arrangement of "O Sanctissima"
- A good choral performance of "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella." English, French, I'm not picky.
- A carol called "Corpus Christi Carol," but not the Jeff Buckley one. It begins "The hen flew east and the hen flew west," and it was played on "Thistle and Shamrock" a long time ago.
- Carly and Lucy Simon doing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I don't think this album was ever released on CD, but I live in hope.

And check the comments; there are several more songs there.



Deller Consort, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear from "The Holly and the Ivy." Countertenor solo with flute counterpoint.

King's College Choir, O Little Town of Bethlehem from "O Come All Ye Faithful." Choir with organ.

Taverner Consort, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen from "The Carol Album." Waits-style choir (cockney accents and all) with band.

Christmas Revels, I Saw Three Ships from "Christmas Day in the Morning." Celtic-flavored choir and band.

Susan McKeown and Lindsey Horner, Auld Lang Syne from "Through the Bitter Frost and Snow" (given to me by jennyagain). Two female voices with acoustic band. The traditional tune is so overdone that you tend not to hear how sad the song is.

Mike and Peggy Seeger, The Twelve Days of Christmas from "American Folk Songs for Christmas." Female soloist, a capella, country gospel style. Honestly, this version is even more repetitive than the traditional one, but if you wanted variety, you've got it.

King's College Choir, Away in a Manger from "O Come All Ye Faithful." Boy choir, in an arrangement with lots of oohs in the background.

These last three are courtesy of ceciliaregent, who kindly sent me a stocking-load of new Christmas music.

The Albion Band, While Shepherds Watched from "A Christmas Present." A capella and appealingly imperfect.

Beeston Methodist Carol Choir, Angels From the Realms of Glory from "English Village Carols." A capella choir, clearly amateurs, clearly enjoying themselves.

Early Music New York, Paxton (Joy to the World) from "A Colonial Christmas." A capella men's choir.

Or get all of them in a zip file, 33MB.

Comments

[norah.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This music has been gladdening my heart!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to hear it!

[thete1.livejournal.com]

I *really* wish I could help with your requests, considering what good shape I'm gonna be in when I'm ready for holiday music, thanks to you. *sends good music pimp vibes*

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks. Some of it has probably never existed in digital form, unless somebody kept their old taped-off-the-radio cassettes of "Thistle and Shamrock" and digitized them, which surely somebody out there is obsessive enough to do ...

[penknife.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's much appreciated.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome.

[rhi]

Kind lady, all your Christmas music posts have been gladdening my day. I don't have much other holiday music of my own, and I'm not sure that Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "I Believe In Father Christmas" is quite what you'd want, but if you do want it, reply to this and I'll do a YouSendIt for you. Thank you so much for making the holidays quite a bit brighter!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Actually I'm very fond of that one -- but I've already got it. But thanks!

[aynatonal.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all of this lovely Christmas music! I'll be taking a CD home to my family for the holiday.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Cool! Glad you're liking it.

[tazical.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all these! I get fed up working in retail with the same Christmas CD every year, so I'm burning all these new ones as fast as I can :o)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Wow. If you work in retail, I'm surprised you can stomach any christmas music whatsoever. I feel for you.

I am not one of those people who has to walk into a store and go over and set off all the Singing Santas and whatnot, but I'm afraid the kidlet is, which is one reason why I don't take her shopping very often.

[umbo.livejournal.com]

Yay more music! I know I have a good choral recording of "Bring a Torch" somewhere, but, again, it's not on my computer (and my superdrive is broken, so I can't rip it), and I'm pretty sure it's from one of my Cleveland Orchestra Christmas cds, which are only available if you make a donation to the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, so that's not much help.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Hee! I suppose we're a long way from the day when every piece of music ever made is available on the internet somewhere, somehow.

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

*Nabbittynabness*

I had posted some recordings of the Christmas Quartet the King and I were in some time ago, but I didn't know if you'd snagged them. I've MP3's of us doing Joy to the World, the Coventry Carol, and a jazzy Deck the Halls in 7/8 time. Let me know if you want them.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely. I mostly can't stand the Coventry Carol, but I'd love to hear the other two!

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing so much lovely music.

I don't have anything you're looking for, but just for fun, here's Great Big Sea's Come and I Will Sing You (http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2BRV1Z3FYFIGE2EJC854C38RL7), a Newfoundland/Labrador variation on "Green Grow the Rushes, Oh" that's not really a Christmas song, but is often associated with the holiday season because of its structure and its curious mix of Christian and pagan imagery.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love stuff like this! Same theme and different tune: Mike and Peggy Seeger, The Twelve Apostles, (http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=175RZ9D355CC829JXPMY4H4Z0P) from American Folk Songs for Christmas.

[merelymine.livejournal.com]

I don't think that I've said thank you yet for all of this wonderful Christmas music. Thank you. I didn't have any Christmas music until you started posting, so I'm so glad that you did.

I'm going to listen to all of it while I clean today, and hopefully it will keep me in a good, Christmas-y mood.

*loves*

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad!

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks so much!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[sweetvalleyslut.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! My mother and I have been looking for good Christmas music for years since we lost our old tape, and we always end up finding this scary techno stuff. Much appreciated.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Every performer seems to feel compelled to release some Christmas music, however badly it suits their style.

Of course, I'm the one who was asking for the Jethro Tull Christmas CD last week, so I suppose I can't say anything about anybody else's taste in Christmas music.

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

Not the best version in the world, but here's a choral of Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (http://s59.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0SH0U33SQBSR02263APG9GG65H). And also, because I like it so much, an instrumental using a hurdy gurdy! (http://s59.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1M37BCMO7A47V3V6D5VMJUHGXP)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm beginning to think that Robert Shaw Chorale version is the only recorded version of the song, which is impossible, right? But several people have offered it to me. Surely there must be others.

But thanks for the hurdy-gurdy!

[lcsbanana.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeee thank you! *rolls around in music*

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome!

Music! Makes the people! come together!

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for this, res, I really adore it.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad!

[fleurrochard]

And more Christmas music -yay! Thank you!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it!

[bibliokat.livejournal.com]

Yay, even more Christmas music! Thanks for sharing!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Good! You're welcome.

[butterflysteel.livejournal.com]

Here via friendsfriending.

I think this might be of use to you. In searching for the Corpus Christi Carol you're talking about, I found an old reference (1961) to a song of that name in a work called "A Boy Was Born".

I'm not sure if that's the one but there are a couple versions of it if you search for corpus christi carol on Amazon under classical

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- I'll check that out!

[goseaward.livejournal.com]

www.emusic.com has 15 versions of Bring a Torch... but I'm out of downloads till Dec. 8 so I can't get any of them for you. But emusic is *wonderful* for Celtic music--I had 60 downloads/month for the first 3 or 4 months, 90 for the next 8 or 9, and I've still got almost 300 songs I'm waiting to download...almost all just from the British/Celtic Isles section of the site. So you might be interested yourself, I dunno. :>

And if you want any of them, I have a great male vocal ensemble doing Lo How a Rose Ere Blooming, The First Noel, Ave Maria, O Holly Night...and a small group doing God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. Plus some others, but those're the highlights.

Jeez, I need a music icon...:D

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Wow. emusic is new to me, and it looks fabulous! After Christmas I'll sign up and go on a downloading frenzy.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I adore Alfred Deller from my early years! (My dad played it and got me into it.)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to do the same for (or to?) the kidlet.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Yay back!

[teand.livejournal.com]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is one of my favorite Christmas carols ever and I love this version. Thank you!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have [counts] 14 versions of that carol -- and I wouldn't even call it one of my favorites! It is just possible that I'm a little obsessive in my collections of Christmas music.

If you're interested in more, I can upload you some; I have:

- jazzy instrumentals by Paquito D'Rivera, Joshua Redman, Joey Calderazzo
- acoustic folky instrumentals by the Christmastide Musicians and Maggie Sansone
- traditional choral versions by the Robert Shaw Chorale, the Deller Consort, and the King's College Choir
- folky or Celtic-themed vocal versions by Maddy Prior, the Chieftains, On This Day Earth Shall Ring, and Bruce Cockburn
- and Nat King Cole.

[flambeau.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you! This is lovely, and goes perfectly with my peaceful advent Sunday evening, and my only problem now is that I cannot in fact sing along and write at the same time. Drat. *g*

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

This makes me think of Albert Brooks in "Broadcast News" singing along with the backup singers on "Midnight Train to Georgia": I can sing ... and read! I am reading ... and singing, both!

Come to think of it, Rodney McKay is on the same family tree as that character.

[qe2.livejournal.com]

Snagged the zip - bless you for that, particularly on dial-up - and spent a bit of time looking around on Soulseek for your in-search-ofs. No luck yet, but hope springs eternal. Did discover - as you may already know - that there's a rather large Thistle & Shamrock archive at St. Andrew's Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC. The official T&S website says (http://www.npr.org/programs/thistle/about/roots.html) that the archive includes a copy of every show in the program's history. No idea how one would go about accessing it, other than to get in touch with the maintainers from here (http://www.sapc.edu/shc/shc/index.php), but perhaps it's a start?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'll have to do some searching and see what I can find out. Thanks!

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I've been looking for that Simon Sisters album on CD for years and never found it. (My dad's got it on vinyl, but it's almost too worn to play at this point.) Thanks for reminding me of this song--maybe this year I'll get around to teaching the alto part to someone.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

One of the things on my Christmas wishlist this year is going to be for some technically savvy person to digitize my Simon Sisters LP. If I find someone to do it, I will definitely share.