Feature: Festive music for the discerning!

 

The classical repertoire offers seasonal music which is far more enjoyable than the tired old showbiz/pop fare which is recycled year after year.  Whether you celebrate Christmas or any other seasonal holiday, why not give yourself an antidote to the tinny racket spilling out of shop doorways and the cheesy glitz of all those questionable festive 'hits' with our celebratory selection, which is guaranteed to be 100% free of hackneyed lollipops? Play now 

Prokofiev: Troika from Lieutenant Kije
This excerpt, all sleigh bells and clip-clop rhythms, is of course an established seasonal favourite.  However, what we usually hear is the instrumental version from the orchestral suite, so here's the original. 

Traditional: Kun Joulu On (Christmas is Come)
Whatever else it may be, Christmas is an international occasion, so for a change why not sample the seasonal music of other lands?  This wonderfully lyrical Finnish carol is perfectly interpreted by the unfaultable Monica Groop.  The complete album is a mixture of items in Finnish, German and Latin and is well worth downloading in its entirety as a refreshing festive alternative (for non-Finns, that is!). 

Christmas in Early America
If you only download one album this month, make it this one.  This collection of sprightly period vocal and instrumental arrangements performed by the Columbus Ensemble is full of delightful surprises. 

Christmas Bells Are Swingin'!
Another attractive album's worth of seasonal music, this time arranged for brass ensemble, a unit long associated with festive performance. 

Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve Suite No.2
As if to demonstrate that music can be both seasonal and substantial, here's a fine suite from Rimsky, full of artful orchestration and mercurial imagination. 

Various: Christmas Re-Grooved
Christmas carols as electronica?  Yes, it could have been a disaster, but the creative sonic textures, toe-tapping rhythms and of course the melodic robustness of the original tunes make this an interesting and enjoyable experiment. 

Stacey Kent: The Christmas Song
'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...' - you know the one!  Having been mumbled and crooned by countless singers, this classic seasonal jazz ballad lends itself surprisingly well to the ever-popular Stacey Kent's crisp diction. 
 
Piazzolla: Invierno Porteno (Winter in Argentina)
An elegiac tango (played here on piano) by the master of the form, perfectly evocative of its subject.