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!

[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*

[penknife.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's much appreciated.

[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!

[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.

[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)

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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*

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks so much!

[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.

[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.

[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!

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

Hey, cool! Thanks much. :-)

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

I do have the rest of the hurdy gurdy album, let me know if you want it.

I had a bit more luck searching for the song in French. Again, not fantastic, but by the backing choir is nice;
http://s59.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0UJK76OCNPTBI2YV902W5HFR3I

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

OK, this is weird -- I could swear that the first time, I opened the hurdy-gurdy piece in iTunes, but evidently I was confused and it was only opening in VLC Media Player. Do you know of a way to get .wma files to open in itunes?

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

Oh, bugger. The file is encrypted, let me see if I can figure out how to convert it.

[lcsbanana.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeee thank you! *rolls around in music*

Music! Makes the people! come together!

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

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

[fleurrochard]

And more Christmas music -yay! Thank you!

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

It took a bit of doing, but I have a system now *G*. Try this!

http://s59.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1OHHRZBTRARQL2T9FBSERAYGEY

[bibliokat.livejournal.com]

Yay, even more Christmas music! Thanks for sharing!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Ah -- that works! Thanks.