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Favorite Christmas Music
Dec. 8th, 2006 10:34 amMusic is a huge part of the Christmas season. When I was a little girl, my mother had Christmas records playing constantly; Perry Como, The Chipmunks, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and so on. She played all different kinds of Christmas records; I remember watching her stack them on the record player -- I especially loved watching the next one in the stack drop down when the previous one finished. My favorite Christmas song of all time was "A Witch's Christmas," which has a chorus of "Jingle bones, jingle jingle bones...."
So, here I am all grown up, and able to buy my own Christmas CDs. And, like my mother, I have a mix of stuff. And now, I'm going to treat you to my list of favorites.
The Messiah: I actually received this two-disk version for Christmas the same year that I received my first CD player. I think I was in college and CDs were still new. In fact, you could still buy actual records at National Record Mart. This is by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. One of the reasons I love The Messiah is the majesty of the work and the twisty-turny baroqueness. That Handel was one happenin' dude. The other reason is "The Hallelujah Chorus," which my high school choir sang every year for Christmas right up until the choir teacher retired a few years back. I can still, twenty years later, sing the alto line.
A Winter Garden by Loreena McKennitt. This is subtitled "Five Songs for the Season," and is absolutely my favoritest Christmas CD ever. Loreena has a fabulous voice and a real talent for arrangement -- her Middle Eastern-flavored "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is the best ever.
To Drive The Cold Winter Away: This is also by Loreena McKennitt and is more Christmas-flavored than strictly Christmassy. I use it, in fact, as a "stealth" Christmas CD in my cubicle.
All Time Greatest Christmas Records Volumes I & II: I picked this two CD set up at Wal*Mart a couple of years ago, and I really love it. It's got a lot of the Christmas songs that my mother used to play. I do like Volume II a bit better than Volume I, but that's probably because it starts out with "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."
The Moon of Wintertime by Lydia McCauley: Lydia McCauley's voice is strongly reminscent of Loreena McKennitt's, which is probably why I like it so much. The only thing I don't like about this CD is the last track which sounds more like a poorly recorded filk¹ song than a professionally recorded track.
I may be adding favorites; I just ordered a few new Christmas CDs, but they haven't arrived yet.
---
¹ For those not familiar with the genre, yes I mean "filk," not "folk."
So, here I am all grown up, and able to buy my own Christmas CDs. And, like my mother, I have a mix of stuff. And now, I'm going to treat you to my list of favorites.
The Messiah: I actually received this two-disk version for Christmas the same year that I received my first CD player. I think I was in college and CDs were still new. In fact, you could still buy actual records at National Record Mart. This is by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. One of the reasons I love The Messiah is the majesty of the work and the twisty-turny baroqueness. That Handel was one happenin' dude. The other reason is "The Hallelujah Chorus," which my high school choir sang every year for Christmas right up until the choir teacher retired a few years back. I can still, twenty years later, sing the alto line.
A Winter Garden by Loreena McKennitt. This is subtitled "Five Songs for the Season," and is absolutely my favoritest Christmas CD ever. Loreena has a fabulous voice and a real talent for arrangement -- her Middle Eastern-flavored "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is the best ever.
To Drive The Cold Winter Away: This is also by Loreena McKennitt and is more Christmas-flavored than strictly Christmassy. I use it, in fact, as a "stealth" Christmas CD in my cubicle.
All Time Greatest Christmas Records Volumes I & II: I picked this two CD set up at Wal*Mart a couple of years ago, and I really love it. It's got a lot of the Christmas songs that my mother used to play. I do like Volume II a bit better than Volume I, but that's probably because it starts out with "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."
The Moon of Wintertime by Lydia McCauley: Lydia McCauley's voice is strongly reminscent of Loreena McKennitt's, which is probably why I like it so much. The only thing I don't like about this CD is the last track which sounds more like a poorly recorded filk¹ song than a professionally recorded track.
I may be adding favorites; I just ordered a few new Christmas CDs, but they haven't arrived yet.
---
¹ For those not familiar with the genre, yes I mean "filk," not "folk."
